Lisa McMann: Wake

Title: Wake
Author: Lisa McMann (http://lisamcmann.com/)
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher:  Simon Pulse
ISBN: 978-1416953579

1. First off, congratulations on the big novel sale! Give us the elevator pitch. What’s your book about?

Thank you! WAKE is about a seventeen-year-old girl named Janie who gets sucked into other people’s dreams. She can’t stop it, she can’t tell anybody about it or they’d think she’s a freak, so Janie lives on the
fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.

And there’s a hot guy in it too. Just don’t compare him to Edward, whatever you do. Fights have broken out all across the land.

2. Most new novelists have an interesting story to tell about their journey to publication. What’s yours? Did you use an agent? Make sure to tell us about the day you found out you’d sold a book.

Yes, I found my agent in September, 2006. He’s this wonderfully witty and talented guy named Michael Bourret from Dystel & Goderich and I heart him.

In January of 2007 I had my first offer, immediately followed by a competing offer, and the negotiations went on for a week. It was stressful and wonderful and did I mention stressful? When all was on the table, both offering a 2-book deal, picking one publisher over another was painful. But when we had a deal, I was over the moon. I thought that would be the most amazing event of my life, and it was, until the day I found out that WAKE hit the New York Times bestseller list.

Now, I’m actually not a huge “react-er” to things. I internalize and feel the pride or the happiness or whatever deep down, and I’m known to maintain a pretty level-headed outward appearance. But when my agent called on a Wednesday afternoon, and said editor Jen Klonsky over at Simon Pulse wanted to talk to us both, I had a sinking feeling – I actually thought Jen was calling to say they were disappointed in sales
or something (not that she ever does this! I’m just weird)…I had NO. FREAKING. CLUE what she was about to tell me. And I totally, completely freaked out. It was BY FAR the best day of my life. (My husband said it was okay to say that…isn’t he great?)

And the feeling just doesn’t seem to go away.

3. Do you have another book in the pipeline? What are you working on now?

Well, FADE is the sequel to WAKE. It comes out February 24, 2009. After that, I’m not quite sure…I expect I’ll have an answer in the next few months.

4. What’s your writing process like? Morning writer, night writer, or something in between?

On days I’m writing, I write fast and furiously from the moment my kids head out the door to school (8:22 a.m.) until sometime between 2:30 and 4:00 p.m. If I’m really going strong on something, I might continue writing until the wee hours of the night. I write when there’s something to write, and then I write fast and almost non-stop without editing until I push that entire rough draft out. Obsessive much? Yeah.

5. There seems to be an unusually high percentage of writers who own cats. Here at the The First Book, we’re doing a study to find out if there’s a direct relationship between writing success and cat ownership. Do you own a cat? If so, tell us about him or her. If not, tell us what you have against cats.

This question is logically flawed! You’re saying if I don’t own a cat, that means I have something against them? Very sneaky, Scott. What if…what if my dear sweet 22-year-old cat — Mathilda — died recently — yesterday, in fact — and that’s why I don’t have a cat? Does that mean I have something against cats? How dare you mock my grief!

Okay, okay. It’s the litter box thing. I live in a refrigerator-box-sized hut with no acceptable or convenient place for a litter box. But I love cats. I have loved all my cats. And now I shall name them all for your entertainment: Blackie, Brownie, Yellowy (why yes, I was a creative child too), Georgia (oh how I loved head-butting Georgia), Russell (who threw up live worms when I was ten but was still my favorite childhood cat), Damian, Key, Madison (who always pooped the wrong way off the edge of the litter box), Buddy, and Spongey. And Smudge, but I did not love Smudge because my sister, Tricia Lynn Gort
Kiepert, is and always has been spoiled and SHE got to choose the kitten from Key’s litter that we would keep. And she picked stupid Smudge when I wanted the black naughty one. Pfft. I’m glad Smudge ran away. There, I said it. Happy?

Anyway, we have a sweet dog right now, that poops outside, where I can send my 11-year-old to clean it up. Jessie — that’s her name. She sleeps at my feet all day while I bang away on the laptop and makes me
feel like a writer. (The dog, not the 11-year-old).