Susan Wittig Albert, Ph.D. is the bestselling author of over 35 books in three mystery series: the China Bayles mysteries; The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter; and the Robin Paige Victorian/Edwardian mysteries, written as Robin Paige, with her husband, Bill Albert. She has also written two nonfiction books: Work of Her Own and Writing From Life: Telling Your Soul's Story. In addition, she has published widely in young adult fiction, including books in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. Her memoir, Landscapes of the Heart: A Memoir of Marriage and Place, will be published by the University of Texas Press in Fall, 2009.
Susan is a former Professor of English and has taught and spoken at many writers' conferences. She is the founder and past president of the Story Circle Network. You'll find a full list of her books here. You can read one of her talks about lifewriting here.
A Note from Susan:
I began writing for the love of it when I was ten or eleven—stories, poems, even a short novel. I sold my first story when I was 17, to a Sunday-school newspaper, and in the next few years sold quite a few stories and articles for children. I detoured into academic writing in college, graduate school, and university teaching, and came back to writing for young adults in mid-life, when I left the university.
Now, I work in both fiction (mysteries, primarily) and nonfiction (writing how-to, memoir). I also blog and create regular eletters. I'm a full-time writer. For the past several years, I've been working on at least two projects at a time, one fiction, one nonfiction, plus the online work. Currently, I'm working on a mystery and what I call a journal/book—a journal for publication that covers the present year of my life. Of all my books, a mystery novel called Bloodroot is my favorite. It required a great deal of historical research, which I enjoy doing. And I'm always happy when it's time to work on one of the Cottage Tales, a "gentle" mystery series featuring Beatrix Potter and (yes) talking animals.
Writing is my day job—and by that, I mean that I write every day. I set myself a goal of 1500 words and do my best to reach it by 4:30 in the afternoon, when the dogs tell me it's time to take them for a walk before dinner. When I start a book (mystery or nonfiction), I usually have a very strong sense of its shape. I rarely outline. I start with a half-baked idea, a situation I want to explore, and try to find the stories that are hidden within and behind that situation. I work scene by scene, letting the stories (there are several, since all my books are multiply-plotted) develop as narrative threads. I revise constantly, and revise a large batch of work at several points during the project. When it's all done, it sits for a couple of weeks, then gets another revision, mostly for style, at this point.
If you're interested in exploring a mentorship with me, here's what I'm looking for. I expect a basic proficiency in the language, a serious interest in syntax and sentence shape and flow, and a commitment—may I say, an earnest commitment?—to improvement in writing skills, whether you're working in fiction or nonfiction. I want you to care about writing, about the importance of shaping ideas in words, the urgency of expressing a thought as exactly as possible (even if that expression is nuanced and ambiguous). And I want you to have the time to put into your work. If you care and care deeply, and if you have the time it takes to seriously work on your material, we can learn the rest together.
I do have a few ground rules. I work via email and the Internet these days and don't do much telephoning, so I prefer not to do phone consultations unless the consultation is time-limited, with a focus on a specific piece of writing. I live in the country, miles from town, and cannot schedule face-to-face meetings.
If you're looking for a mentor, here's my advice, for what it's worth. Develop a fairly clear idea of what you want to achieve: a piece of writing, a level of skill improvement, a stronger command of the process. Spell that out for yourself as fully as possible, so that you can communicate it to the mentor who seems to be the best match. And give yourself room. If the relationship doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. Don't be afraid to try again, with a different mentor.
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