Writers' Rituals – Maryann Miller
The Mysterious Writing Habits of Writers From Around the World
Are writers obsessive-compulsive? Overly superstitious? Or do habits and rituals provide security for writers who never know where the next idea, or the words to write it, will come from?
Searching for clues to the secrets of writing, Suite 101 has an exclusive interview with Maryann Miller, a diverse writer of columns, feature stores, short fiction, novels, screenplays and stage plays.
How much research and plotting do you do before you're ready to write a book?
I do a lot of research for every book. For One Small Victory I had to learn all I could about how a small-town police department works, as well as how a drug task force works. The central character works as a confidential informant, so I had to find out how the department would handle that. The book is set in a fictional small town north of Dallas, but I based it on a real small town, scouting locations so I could get a strong visual of places to describe in the book. As for plotting, I don't do a lot of detailed outlining for a story. Most of my novels are character-driven, and they tend to take the story in the direction it needs to go, especially with whatever sub-plot is going on.
What hours do you devote to your writing and what time of day do you prefer to write?
Of late I have been doing more promoting than writing, but back in the day I wrote most mornings from about 8 until lunchtime. If the writing was going well, I'd pick back up after lunch. Otherwise I would spend the afternoons taking care of the business side of writing. I still work all day in my office. Mornings I usually update the online magazine where I am Managing Editor -- Then I spend an hour or two on a new book, before doing business.
Do you take breaks, and if so, what do you do during them?
Depending on the season of the year, most of my breaks are spend outside. For the past few years I have been playing "farmer" on some acreage in East Texas, and I love to go out and do some work here and there. I have some animals to care for - a horse and two goats - so that necessitates that I go out a couple of times a day to feed them. Other times I may take a break to watch a movie.
Where do you write?
I have an office with two windows that have nice views of my property. Out of one window I can watch the birds play in the pine trees. The other faces the area where my horse is and sometimes he will do a run-around that I have to stop working to watch. The interior of my office has a large desk that holds my computer and related equipment, several large bookcases that are groaning under a weight of books, and a roll-top desk that holds supplies related to writing and to scrapbooking.
(What do you write with?
Most of my writing now is done on computer, but I still sometimes like getting out the pen and paper to work through a plot problem.
...and why is that your preference?
Working directly on the computer saves a lot of time. When I first started writing books there was no such thing as a personal computer. I wrote everything in notebooks, then typed it on an old manual typewriter. Talk about labor intensive. Not to mention that I was the world's worst typist.
Describe what you like to keep within arm's reach while you're writing.
Coffee in a special cup given to me by my grandchildren. A pen. Notepaper. And sometimes a snack when I am in a munchy mood. Okay, often a snack. Where do these munchies come from?
Describe the things you can see when you look up from your writing.
The walls of my office are covered with pictures and cards and little decorative things that mean a lot to me. One small wall holds my awards. Right above my monitor is a section of the wall that has cards that I've received from readers, family and friends. There are also a few cartoons interspersed among the cards, and I love cats, so there are a few of them looking down at me.
What was the first thing you wrote that was published?
I started my career writing a humorous weekly column for a Dallas suburban newspaper. It was about family life -- in the vein of Erma Bombeck. I was absolutely blown away when the editor at the paper said they would run the column and pay me for it. I remember that Erma, God rest her soul, started out not getting paid. From there I built a freelance career writing for regional and national publications and that led to getting the non-fiction books published.
What is your latest book?
One Small Victory is a fictionalized true story that I found captivating when I read the small news item a number of years ago. It centers on a woman who risks everything to end the drug trafficking that played a part in the death of her son. The difficulties this woman faced came from the dangers of the work she was doing as well as the problems it caused for her family. She worked as a confidential informant, so she couldn’t tell anybody what she was doing. In addition, she had to deal with the emotional upheaval of grief. The book was published by Five Star/Gale and is in hardcover. It is available at bookstores and libraries.
Find out more about Maryann Miller and her writing, here.
Read about Peter May, Jane Finnis, Ruth Dudley Edwards and many other Writers' Rituals.
Maryann Miller
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One Small Victory by Maryann Miller
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