Hello there, it’s early in the morning and I am taking a small break from writing my query. There is a writer who I think about whenever I run into a rough spot in my writing; that successful novelist is named Mary Higgins Clark. She was a widow with 5 children and would get up at 5 am and write until 7 am because she had to get the kids up. She never allowed the fact that she became a widow and had to rear 5 children stop her from her dream of being a novelist. I figure if she can do it with her situation, I certainly can too. Here is some information from an interview.Question: What is our ideal writing situation? Time, place, atmosphere, etc…?
Mary Higgins Clark: The 3rd floor of my house has a tower-like room that has sky lights in it, bookcases. It is painted a wonderful shade Cardinal Red. There is lots of oak, and my desk. There is a love seat in an oriental pattern in red; a state of the art computer. My idea is to come up here after an early light breakfast and get right to work. For me, the best thing to do is to work from 8 ‘til 2 and have a sandwich at the desk. And to stick as much as possible to that schedule. By the time I am getting to the end of a book, I work about 17 hours a day.
Question: What is your advice to the aspiring writer?
Mary Higgins Clark: “The first thing you have to do is write. So many people tell me, ‘I’m going to write a books as soon as…’ the three fatal words are as soon as…As soon as I learn to use the computer. As soon as I quit my job. As soon as the kids grow up. As soon as the dog dies. But trust me, as soon as the kids grow up and the dog dies, there will a new set of excuses not to write which will be equally valid.”
More Interesting Tidbits on Mary Higgins Clark:
Mary was left a young widow with five children by the death of her husband, Warren Clark, from a hart attack in 1964. She went to work writing radio scripts and, in addition, decided to write books.
Every morning, she got up at 5 am and wrote until 7 am, when she had to get the kids ready for school. Her fist book was biographical novel about the life of George Washington, Aspire to the Heaves. “It was remaindered as it came off the press,” she says of her first try. Next, she decided to write a suspense novel, Where are the Children?, which became a bestseller and marked a turning point in her life and career.
Mary Higgins Clark: The 3rd floor of my house has a tower-like room that has sky lights in it, bookcases. It is painted a wonderful shade Cardinal Red. There is lots of oak, and my desk. There is a love seat in an oriental pattern in red; a state of the art computer. My idea is to come up here after an early light breakfast and get right to work. For me, the best thing to do is to work from 8 ‘til 2 and have a sandwich at the desk. And to stick as much as possible to that schedule. By the time I am getting to the end of a book, I work about 17 hours a day.
Question: What is your advice to the aspiring writer?
Mary Higgins Clark: “The first thing you have to do is write. So many people tell me, ‘I’m going to write a books as soon as…’ the three fatal words are as soon as…As soon as I learn to use the computer. As soon as I quit my job. As soon as the kids grow up. As soon as the dog dies. But trust me, as soon as the kids grow up and the dog dies, there will a new set of excuses not to write which will be equally valid.”
More Interesting Tidbits on Mary Higgins Clark:
Mary was left a young widow with five children by the death of her husband, Warren Clark, from a hart attack in 1964. She went to work writing radio scripts and, in addition, decided to write books.
Every morning, she got up at 5 am and wrote until 7 am, when she had to get the kids ready for school. Her fist book was biographical novel about the life of George Washington, Aspire to the Heaves. “It was remaindered as it came off the press,” she says of her first try. Next, she decided to write a suspense novel, Where are the Children?, which became a bestseller and marked a turning point in her life and career.
06/01/08 4:40am
