Welcome Guest Blogger ~ Allie Pleiter

Enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction. An avid knitter, coffee junkie, and non-reformed chocoholic, she spends her days writing books, doing laundry, running carpools, and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a BS in Speech from Northwestern University, spent 15 years in the field of professional fundraising, and currently lives in suburban Chicago, Illinois. The “dare from a friend” to begin writing eight years ago has blossomed into a career that includes numerous public speaking engagements, two books on parenting; BECOMING A CHIEF HOME OFFICER and FACING EVERY MOM'S FEARS, and five novels: BAD HEIRESS DAY and QUEEN ESTHER AND THE SECOND GRADERS OF DOOM, the Rita-nominated MY SO-CALLED LOVE LIFE, THE PERFECT BLEND out now, and MASKED BY MOONLIGHT due out in June of 2008. Visit her website.

Novel Journey asked Allie about her biggest writing challenge.

The biggest writing challenge for me wasn’t one of craft or technique, but of getting out of my own way. Simply put, I try too hard. I wasn’t writing, I was WRITING (and you’ve got to roll your “r” when you say that). Authoring. Crafting. Paying, unfortunately, far too much attention to myself and far too little attention to the story.

The time had come to get out of my own way. I didn’t see it until I called a friend, bemoaning my lack of craft, my unskilled arrogance in thinking I could do this intellectual miracle. She gave me the single greatest piece of writing advice I have ever received: hush up and write the book. Tell the story that needs to be told. Listen to the characters. Trust that the story will stand on its own, without the bells and whistles you think it needs.

This is a frightening prospect. Aren’t I supposed to be clever? Witty? Insightful and heart-tugging? Make you sigh, or cry, or all those things we think one does in the presence of great writing? But that’s just it—when we are in the presence of great writing, we shouldn’t be aware of it. We should be sucked into a wonderful story long before we catch on that we are awed by the great writing.

Most times we think of writing challenges in terms of “to-do”s. A checklist of standards for good work or fine craft. The stuff of workshops and books. Not that these things are bad—they are useful tools no writer can ignore. But my greatest writing challenge was “to don’t”. Don’t WRITE. Just put the story down on paper. With as little interference/manipulation/mutation from you as possible. I find it amazing that the greatest way to find your voice is to hush up. To listen with your literary ear instead of shouting with your industry tricks.

Simple concept? Surely. Easy? Not on your life. I still have to go back and tell myself to calm down, to stop showing off, and to do the hard work of peeling things back to the heart of my story and than getting that down on the page. Sometimes, I get it right before my fingers hit the keys. More often that not, I go back and look at my work, get ruthless about where I’ve been a trickster, and try not to panic after I remove all the unnecessary frills. Notice I said TRY not to panic. You may find deep breathing and dark chocolate are necessary. You won’t be the first.

Allie's new book, The Perfect Blend is out this month. Here's the back cover blurb:

Maggie Black knows God wants to open a Christian Coffeehouse in Seattle. Loan officer William Grey, however, thinks Seattle might have all the coffeehouses it needs, and that Maggie needs a better business plan before getting any financial backing. He enrolls her in the bank’s small business incubator program (which he just happens to teach) as a way of strengthening her skills. Twelve weeks of “teaching” turns into battling over assignments, dueling business styles, how much planning is too much, and how much faith is not enough.

Opposites do that thing opposites do so well: attract. Will and Maggie find themselves drawn to each other in ways that are increasingly hard to resist. If Will pursues the relationship, he looses control over Maggie’s loan application. If Maggie pursues the relationship, she discards her old ideas of a wild, visionary mate. Will wants to be protective, Maggie wants to be daring. In the end, and despite the risk, they choose to be together, and take the perfect blend of both of them to create a successful business.