Shop Talk: The Year in Review

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I’ve never been one for “year-end” lists. 

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because I’ve always been too busy rushing forward to look back. All that rushing and hustling has gotten me here, though, to the year I’ve been chasing since I first started writing. 

My debut novel came out last March. I marked so many items off my author bucket list in 2022. I also got to meet nearly all of my literary heroes, thanks to this column. 

I started “Shop Talk” because this was the content I looked for in author interviews. I wanted to know how authors put the black on the white. How they structured their lives to do this thing we do. Thanks to CrimeReads, I was able to interview my favorite writers, authors who’ve become dear friends over the last year. 

And now, I’d like to share a breakdown, a recap (just don’t call it “a year-end list) as a way of saying, “Thanks.”

My hope is that these selected highlights from interviews with authors like Laura Lippman, Megan Abbott, and S.A. Cosby will provide inspiration. Maybe you’ll take solace in the fact that the majority of the authors I interviewed aim for 1,000 words a day. Or maybe you’ll name your laptop “Balthazar” like Bill Boyle. Or, maybe, if you’re really wise, you’ll take David Joy’s “best advice” listed below.

If I’ve learned anything from doing these interviews, it’s that there’s no one way to write a book, but you do still have to write the sucker.

Wishing you happy writing and reading in 2023.

Best,

E

William Boyle

Writes every day: No

Morning or night: Morning (5am – 7am)

Wordcount goal: 1,000 words

Outline: Kinda (20 page summary)

Writes with: Toshiba laptop named “Balthazar”

Beta readers: No (straight to agent)

Writerly vanities: Uptown Coffee (Oxford, MS)

Office: Dining room

Best quote/advice: “I have a list of things I write down in a to-do list at the start of most days. Willy Vlautin, in an interview, said, “Always be a fan first.” I try to make sure I’m not just thinking about my own stuff. I try to stay focused on other people’s work, especially movies. I’ll get stuck on one director and watch a whole bunch of his movies over the course of a book. Finding my voice as a writer through things I love has been my way in. Megan Abbott gave a talk a few years ago on the value of weird choices. So that’s another thing I keep on my daily list. “Make weird choices.” I highly value the weird in general. The third one that goes in there is this Barry Gifford line: “Don’t get bitter.”

 

Stephen Mack Jones

Writes every day: No

Morning or night: Whenever inspiration hits

Wordcount goal: 800 – 1,000 words

Outline: Yes, but tends to lose them

Writes with: Dell laptop

Beta readers: No (too old for that sort of thing)

Writerly vanities: Godzilla figurine 

Office: Family room/overstuffed leather chair

Best quote/advice: “I want to stay playful, even with the dark moments in a manuscript, just being playful and encouraging my own sense of play. That, for me, is how the job gets done.”

 

Megan Abbott

Writes every day: Mostly

Morning or night: Morning (after a run)

Wordcount goal: No

Outline: No

Writes with: PC mostly, laptop when traveling, longhand on the fly

Beta readers: No 

Writerly vanities: Diet Coke 

Office: Yes, rotates talismans on desk for each book

Best quote/advice: “I think there’s this notion with writing that some of us might get from writing classes that everything should be universal, but it’s the exact opposite. The specific is the only universal.”

 

Ace Atkins 

Writes every day: Yes

Morning or night: Morning and into the day, like a full-time job

Wordcount goal: No (scene goal)

Outline: Changes with every book

Writes with: PC with an IBM Model M keyboard

Beta readers: Wife sees each new manuscript in 25-page chunks

Writerly vanities: Drew Estate Cigars 

Office: Yes (separate from house on the Oxford Square)

Best quote/advice: “Every book is so different. It’s whatever works for you at the moment. What worked for me on book twenty is not necessarily what worked for me on book twenty five.”

 

Jordan Harper

Writes every day: Yes (works as a TV writer)

Morning or night: Morning

Wordcount goal: No 

Outline: Yes

Writes with: Longhand/MacBook

Beta readers: Yes

Writerly vanities: Cold brew 

Office: Hotels (pulls the blinds down, cranks the heat, and wears shorts)

Best quote/advice: “The best writing advice anyone can give you is, Kill those cops (who live inside your head). Now, that’s not to say write whatever you want, however you please, and nobody’s allowed to get offended. That’s not the argument. The argument is about not monitoring what you do, particularly during the drafting process.”

 

Steph Cha

Writes every day: No

Morning or night: After the Yelp reviews are finished

Wordcount goal: 1,000 words (4 hours)

Outline: Sometimes

Writes with: Various “MacBookie” things

Beta readers: Yes

Writerly vanities: Dogs nearby, comfy blanket, Diet Coke

Office: Yes

Best quote/advice: “Turns out, if you pay someone lots of money to watch your kid then having a kid doesn’t have to ruin your professional life.”

 

John Vercher

Writes every day: No

Morning or night: Whenever inspiration hits

Wordcount goal: No

Outline: No

Writes with: MacBook

Beta readers: Yes (sends off 1,000 chunks)

Writerly vanities: None

Office: Yes

Best quote/advice: “I am the opposite of precious about craft and writing and writing spaces. I’m just not that dude. There are plenty of hot takes nowadays. Are you a writer if you’ve got a job and have to write? Do you write five-hundred words a day? That shit drives me crazy.”

 

S.A. Cosby

Writes every day: Yes (when drafting a manuscript)

Morning or night: Night

Wordcount goal: No (two chapters per day)

Outline: Has to have a good title before he gets started. Also writes a synopsis. 

Writes with: Laptop

Beta readers: Yes (writer group)

Writerly vanities: Hat. Music. Whiskey (Elijah Craig). Recliner (with heated seat). Cat (named Flipper). 

Office: Recliner

Best quote/advice: “Whether I’m a bestseller, I’m self-published, or I’m just handing out pamphlets at the bus station—I’m always going to be a writer.”

 

Michael Koryta

Writes every day: Yes (when drafting a manuscript)

Morning or night: Whole day routine

Wordcount goal: If he writes 1,500 words, he gets to ring “the bell”

Outline: No 

Writes with: PC

Beta readers: Yes

Writerly vanities: Micron pens, prints out completed pages each night

Office: Two (Maine/Indiana) 

Best quote/advice: “The more you put in, the more you’ll get out. The art of it comes by putting time in.”

 

Rachel Howzell Hall

Writes every day: Yes

Morning or night: 4:40 AM  

Wordcount goal: A chapter and a half (likes to stop in the middle of a scene)

Outline: Yes, complete with index cards and sticky notes 

Writes with: Pilot gel pens and college-ruled paper

Beta readers: Reads aloud to husband

Writerly vanities: Coffee

Office: Yes

Best quote/advice: “We get to clarify life for people, and help folks escape. That’s my talent. That’s why I do it.”

 

Alex Segura

Writes every day: Whenever he can

Morning or night: Whenever he can  

Wordcount goal: No strict rules, but likes to hit 1,000

Outline: Yes (the outline is like the “saddle”)

Writes with: Computer

Beta readers: Yes, then reads aloud for final revision

Writerly vanities: Complete silence

Office: NA

Best quote/advice: “I have my document open at all times. I never close the document. If I open my laptop, it’s there. It’s always at the spot I left it. That’s the only ceremony I have. I need to be able to jump in immediately. This is a product of having two small kids.”

 

Peter Swanson

Writes every day: Yes

Morning or night: Mid-morning  

Wordcount goal: 1,000 words on the nose

Outline: No

Writes with: Computer

Beta readers: Wife

Writerly vanities: Long walks

Office: Yes, with a door that shuts

Best quote/advice: “I love that element of writing a novel, being immersed in it for a long time. Eventually you have to write the ending, but the middle is great too.”

 

Laura Lippman

Writes every day: Monday – Friday

Morning or night: Morning

Wordcount goal: 1,000 words

Outline: Yes (word-blind outlines)

Writes with: Computer

Beta readers: NA

Writerly vanities: Morning walks

Office: Yes, but was being remodeled during interview

Best quote/advice: “I’ve come to accept the idea that there’s a benefit from stillness. A field needs time to lie fallow. The same is true for an author.”

 

David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Writes every day: No

Morning or night: Morning

Wordcount goal: No

Outline: Yes (and many months of research)

Writes with: Laptop with cooling pad

Beta readers: Partner/reads aloud to himself

Writerly vanities: Death Wish Coffee

Office: Yes

Best quote/advice: “If I can both entertain and start a dialogue about these things that are so close to my heart, then I’m happy at the end of the day.”

 

Eli Cranor

Writes every day: Mostly

Morning or night: Morning, 5am

Wordcount goal: 1,000 words

Outline: Depends on the book

Writes with: Blue Pilot V7 pens and unlined yellow legal pads

Beta readers: Yes (reads aloud to his mom every night)

Writerly vanities: Yes, too many, actually 

Office: Basement overlooking Lake Dardanelle 

Best quote/advice: “A thousand words and three miles a day keeps the writerly blues away.”

 

Kellye Garrett

Writes every day: No (but does work on her book every day)

Morning or night: Both

Wordcount goal: Focused on completing scenes

Outline: Yes (“super plotter”)

Writes with: Laptop and keeps journal in notebook while drafting

Beta readers: Yes, but doesn’t call them “beta readers”

Writerly vanities: Notebooks

Office: NA

Best quote/advice: “I have this advocacy thing that I do, but at the same time I’m a damn good writer, and I’m going to own that.”

 

David Joy

Writes every day: No 

Morning or night: Both

Wordcount goal: No, just happy as long as “the story is moving forward”

Outline: Never (starts with “a single image”)

Writes with: Laptop

Beta readers: Strong relationship with editor

Writerly vanities: NA

Office: Nope, works mostly on the couch

Best quote/advice: “What may work today might be gone tomorrow. That shit is fluid. The only requirement is the compulsion to create. Outside of that, there is no other answer

 

Lisa Unger

Writes every day: Most days

Morning or night: Morning

Wordcount goal: No, aiming for “a feeling” when she knows she’s done

Outline: No

Writes with: Longhand and computer depending on scene

Beta readers: Yes, especially her mother, who reads everything

Writerly vanities: Home-brewed coffee and time free of social media

Office: Yes (and it’s beautiful)

Best quote/advice: “Social media is just the chorus of everybody else. As a writer, you don’t need that. You need to be in your zone. This is why it’s so important to batch that time. Don’t toggle back and forth.”

 

James Kestrel 

Writes every day: Yes (when he’s drafting a manuscript)

Morning or night: Lunch

Wordcount goal: No, aiming for “a feeling” when he knows he’s done

Outline: No, but does map out the first five chapters

Writes with: A MacBook Air with Microsoft Word (used solely for writing books)

Beta readers: Yes (lawyer buddies)

Writerly vanities: Martini

Office: Yes (but also works a lot in Honolulu bars)

Best quote/advice: “I built a clock once, from a kit. Writing a novel is like building a clock but you don’t have a kit. You don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like when you’re done. You spend months where you’re putting a cog here and a gear there, and you don’t even know why. But then there’s this moment—this magical moment—when you realize that thing you put over there, if you turn it, it connects up and makes everything else move too. When you feel the book coming together like that, when you understand that somehow, subconsciously, you’re building this machine that works in such a way—I love that feeling. I’m always chasing it.”

 

Dwyer Murphy

Writes every day: Yes (when he’s drafting a manuscript)

Morning or night: Morning (alarm before 5 AM)

Wordcount goal: 500 words, thanks to Graham Greene

Outline: No

Writes with: Laptop (but maps out scenes in Rhodia spiral notebooks)

Beta readers: No

Writerly vanities: Coffee (free refills a must), workout regimen

Office: Coffee shops 

Best quote/advice: “My job, I feel like, is to make sure every sentence has a certain energy. It’s like you’re sitting in a bar and someone’s telling a story. It’s not so much what happens, but how they’re telling it that keeps your attention. The turns of thought that lead from one to another, the unexpected conjunction of ideas. That’s what gets my attention.”

 

Yasmin Angoe

Writes every day: No

Morning or night: Morning to early afternoon

Wordcount goal: Yes (uses Scrivner to set daily counts)

Outline: No (also writes non-linearly)

Writes with: Mix of laptop and longhand

Beta readers: No

Writerly vanities: Music specifically curated for the book/scene

Office: NA 

Best quote/advice: “Treat your writing like you would your job. Don’t be late. Don’t bullshit. Take your fifteen-minute breaks and lunch. Tackle your day with an established game plan and stick to it. But most of all, protect your space and time. Now if only I could follow that advice for myself…”

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