TABLE MANNERS
by Mia King
Commercial Fiction
www.MiaKing.com
3 autographed copies will be given away on Friday, September 3, 2010
About the Book:
Deidre McIntosh finally has all the ingredients for her happy ever after. She has her own line of cakes and cookies, a beautiful apartment, and the perfect boyfriend, Kevin Johnson, one of Seattle’s top bachelors. Creative, energetic, and loving, Deidre is the person friends go to when they need a helping hand. But when Kevin’s ex-fiancee, the sultry and successful magazine publisher Sabine Durant, suddenly appears in Seattle, it’s Deidre who needs help.
Already intimidated by Kevin’s glamorous, moneyed world – and his sister, who wants Deidre out of Kevin’s life – she know she’s no match for Sabine. Deidre turns to her friends for advice, but finds they’re having crises of their own. When her business begins to slip from her fingers, Deidre knows she must do something to keep her career and her love life from imploding. Can everyone’s favorite go-to person save herself?
Free Book Friday's Exclusive Interview with the Author!
1) When you set out to write a book, are you usually sparked by a story idea or a character?
The two are always intertwined for me. If the idea comes first, the character is only a few seconds behind it. If the character comes first, he or she usually comes with enough of their own story for me to know how they'll fit into the rest of the novel. That being said, I don't plot or storyboard my books -- I did it for one and the writing process was hampered for me. I usually have a general idea of what I want to happen, some fuzzy picture of what will happen in the end, but I don't know how we'll get there or what might happen along the way, even other characters we may encounter. For my next book, FRIENDSHIP BREAD (Ballantine, April 2011), I very clearly saw a woman leaning against a counter, sad, and in her hands was a bag of Amish friendship bread starter. I didn't know why she was sad or how she got that bag of starter, and that's where my story basically began.
2) Let's talk about your main character of GOOD THINGS and TABLE MANNERS, Deidre McIntosh. How did you think her up and is there any of you in her?
You know, I don't remember! She appeared to me exactly as she does to readers on page one of GOOD THINGS -- a single woman who was quick on her feet and full of creativity, winging it with finesse. I don't see much of myself in Deidre, although I do think we share some common traits. In particular, Deidre is someone whose success has been built as a result of both good timing (being in the right place at the right time) and her own tenaciousness. She sort of stumbles onto opportunities, but they're largely presented to her because she's done all the ground work to make them happen -- all she has to do is say yes. She has a very good heart and puts people first, but at the start of GOOD THINGS she's sort of lost her way. In TABLE MANNERS she's on her path again and this time very consciously and deliberately making choices that affect her future, even as she encounters the unexpected. I love watching Deidre's growth, and her ability to laugh at herself and turn her mistakes into successes. In fact, Deidre embodies the Richard Bach quote:
“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go.”
3) Which came first, the title or the novel?
For GOOD THINGS, my first novel, it was definitely the title. In general I like to determine the title early on as it guides me through the writing process, but out of the four titles I've written, only half of the original titles were kept. SWEET LIFE, for example, was originally THE ALOHA DIARIES. I pitched and completed the novel with that title but I knew that there was a chance we'd change it. Ironically, SWEET LIFE was a title I was holding on for the second Deidre McIntosh book, but the publisher wanted to use it for Marissa Price's story instead. So I came up with TABLE MANNERS for the next Deidre book, and in many ways it's a much better title for that book. It's always a good idea to stay loose with these things in case something better shows up.
4) Thinking back to the way beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
Don't give up. Keep writing. Learn how to self-edit, learn about the business of writing if publication is important to you. But above all, keep writing and don't let other people tell you what you can or cannot do.
5) What's up next for you?
My fourth novel, FRIENDSHIP BREAD, sold at auction and will be published by Ballantine Books in April 2011. It's the story of a woman who lost her ten year old son a few years back, and she and her sister have become estranged as a result of that loss. When the book opens the woman and her young daughter have anonymously received a bag of Amish friendship bread starter and some slices of the bread on a lovely china plate. She's instructed to take care of the starter for ten days and then divide it and share it with friends, sort of like a culinary chain letter. As the starter makes its way through her small town, it starts to change lives, including hers. This will be my first hardcover title, and it's already sold audio and foreign rights, so I'm very excited to see how Mia King fans will take to the book--I hope they’ll love it as much as I do!
About The Author:
Mia King is a national bestselling author of women’s fiction. She is the author of three novels, GOOD THINGS (Berkley Books, 2007), SWEET LIFE (Berkley Books, 2008), and TABLE MANNERS, (Berkley Books, 2009). Mia’s fourth novel, FRIENDSHIP BREAD, will be published in hardcover by Ballantine Books in April 2011 under the name Darien Gee, and has sold both foreign and audio rights. Visit the author online at: www.MiaKing.com
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