The Secret of Joy

Melissa Senate has a new book out. Please enjoy my interview with her, and support an author! Buy her book!

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MC: Which came first, the title or the novel?

MS: They came together—but The Secret of Joy isn’t the original title. My main character, Rebecca, discovers she has a half-sister she never knew existed, a separated mother who conducts weekend singles tours of Maine in her little orange mini-bus. The quirky members of the Divorced Ladies Club of Wiscasset, who make up her female clients, dub the mini-bus the “love bus.” It fit the book on so many levels, but when it came to designing the cover, it got scrapped. The Secret of Joy is perfect for the novel on many levels also, but I’ll always think of this novel as “The Love Bus.”

What other art form inspires you as much as writing?

Music. I’ve written entire novels to a particular song. I wrote my first book to Sarah McLachlan’s “Hold On.” I wrote my last book to Gillian Welch’s “Miss Ohio.” Songs often make me stop dead in my tracks, make me pull over to the side of the road so that I can really listen, make me smile, make me cry, make me remember, make me feel. My favorite song is Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits.

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Endings, definitely. I write to endings, to a last line already in my head, so by the time I get there, I know what I’m doing. The beginning takes forever. It can take me months to write the first page.

How many drafts until the final draft?

I revise and polish as a I go, a slooooow process, so I usually only have three drafts: the first gets a solid revision, the second an edit, the third a polish. Then it’s off to my agent and editor.

What are you reading right now?

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg. I’m always so amazed at how she manages to write so honestly and elegantly at the same time. She’ll call someone a shit in the loveliest way.

What's next for you?

My second novel for teens, The Mosts, will be published by Random House in June 2010. And my next women’s fiction novel, The Love Goddess’ Cooking School, which I’m staring down the deadline on right this minute, will come out November 2010. It’s about five people taking an Italian cooking course with recipes containing a few magical ingredients.