A new friend's faith in her work helps a wannabe novelist find success in real estate broker-turned writer Maryann McFadden's The Book Lover (Three Women Press; May 2012). An ode to writers and small book shops, The Book Lover is a heart-felt tale of two, determined women who must get creative to live out their dreams.

When her lawyer husband's betrayal ends life as she's known it, young author Lucy Barnett looses herself in selling her new, self-published novel. Alone and broke, Lucy's determined to get her book in the hands of readers, even if it means traveling state to state, one book store to the next promoting her cause.

Meeting Ruth Hardaway, a bookseller with troubles of her own, is Lucy's first big break. A genuine fan of Lucy's writing, Ruth goes all out to support her new friend. Besides encouraging Lucy's book sales, Ruth listens to her troubles (she's been there; done that) and insists Lucy move into her family's unused lake cabin while sorting things out.

In exchange, Ruth asks that Lucy check on her son Collin from time to time. The take-your-breath-away handsome, ex-soldier who lives in the cabin next door is recovering from a devastating injury in the Iraq war, and Ruth worries about him being isolated.

We're giving away five, autographed copies of Maryann McFadden's terrific, third novel, The Book Lover. An ode to writers and small book shops, The Book Lover is a heart-felt story of two, determined women who must get creative to live out their dreams.

When her husband's betrayal ends life as she's known it, self-published author Lucy Barnett looses herself in selling her new novel. Meeting Ruth Hardaway, a 60ish bookseller with troubles of her own, is Lucy's first big break. Bonding immediately, the pair find healing in unexpected friendships, imperfect love and coming clean about little white lies.
 

Click "Read More" for details on how to enter. Contest ends May 17!

Living a simple life at the lake gives both Collin and Lucy a chance to mend.

Hiking, swimming and working with Collin to rescue wounded birds helps her take flight. Soon, she's writing her second novel while promoting the first and even begins resolving issues related to her husband's broken promises.

Meanwhile, Ruth's struggling with crises of her own. With profits plummeting at the shop she's owned for three decades, she may have to lay off beloved employees or, even worse, sell out to make ends meet. Plus, she's hung up on a man her daughter totally disapproves of (even at 60+ you can't just do what you want) and her health's not what it used to be.

It helps having Lucy as a sounding board. Although they're a generation apart, Ruth shares more with her new confidant than she does with her three children. But that closeness is short-lived because just as the two get comfortable, a what-should-be-harmless, little white lie threatens to destroy their friendship.

Having begun her career by self-publishing her first novel, The Richest Season, Maryann McFadden's new romance is an education on publishing and book selling that will captivate anyone who's toyed with the idea of writing a book (color me guilty!). This 325-page, Indie Next Pick -- a must-read according to the American Booksellers Association -- is about two women who find themselves while facing extreme hardships. Changing fortunes, lost love and life-threatening injuries are just the start.

Somewhat reminiscent of 1978's Coming Home starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight, this passionate page-turner speaks to the healing power of having close girlfriends, communing with nature and finding love that's blind to imperfections. It's sure to touch your heart on many levels.

But what prompts a successful real estate agent like Maryann to begin writing fiction and self-publish her first novel? We asked the talented Baby Boomer to give us the scoop.

What drew you to fiction? 

I began writing poetry and stories in high school. After college, I worked as a freelance writer while raising my babies. I wrote for a variety of newspapers and specialized in health and fitness articles for magazines such as Working Woman and Women's Sports & Fitness.

After nearly a decade of working mostly from home, I left writing for real estate, of all things. I spent the next 10 years helping people sell their homes. And then my own children began leaving the nest, and the need to write again began to consume me.

I returned to school, got a Masters Degree in English with a Concentration in Writing and turned to the kind of writing I always loved best: fiction.

What inspired you to write The Book Lover?

After speaking at so many events, both when self-published with The Richest Season, and after I got the deal with my first publisher, I knew I wanted to write about the book world. I already knew the writing side, but now I knew the marketing, publishing and, especially, the bookselling side after spending so much time in "the trenches." I did everything from writing press releases to selling books out of the trunk of my car.

One of the reasons I was so successful at self-publishing was because independent booksellers became my champions. I learned so much as I traveled from one store to another, promoting my book. And then, my two books!

As I began speaking about this journey, I saw how fascinated people were by this inside look at the book world. I also realized that the average reader has no idea what kind of magical, often perilous, journey a book takes from the moment it begins in a writer's mind and eventually makes its way onto a store's shelf and then into readers' hands.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing The Book Lover?

Ruth, my bookseller, came to life very quickly, but I struggled with Lucy, the writer. I just wasn't "feeling" her.

It wasn't until the third draft of the manuscript that I changed Lucy from first person to third person. That helped somewhat. But after one of my speaking engagements, and the emotional response from the audience, it hit me: I was missing a huge opportunity! I had this great back story to my own writing journey that people loved hearing! Lucy's, in comparison, was bland.

You see, I had Lucy as an author who'd struggled and gotten her novel taken, and was writing her second novel under contract, and she was choking under the pressure, and terrified she'd fail because she needed the money desperately as her life was falling apart. But...it just wasn't coming across.

So, I started over, making Lucy instead an aspiring author, with a wonderful book that just kept getting rejected over and over. Someone who refused to give up on a dream that felt essential to who she was. And slowly, she began to come to life!

What message do you want readers to take away from your book?

Oh, I've got a few! First, publishing is a business, and it's often not how good a book is--but will it sell--that determines if it gets picked up. For that reason, a lot of really good reads are sitting in closets. Things are changing though, and now we're seeing frustrated writers self-publishing and hitting the New York Times bestseller list. It's amazing.

Second, don't take your local bookstore or your downtown for granted. I live in a small town with a quaint Main Street that symbolizes the struggles of small business. Stores open and close all the time. There are always a few vacant. If you don't patronize them, and yes, it might be a buck or two more, they're not going to last! And your town will start to look pretty sad. And a big benefit? Most of your spent money will stay local, supporting the community. I'm a small town gal at heart, so this really hits home for me.

Third, protect our wildlife. Nature is one of my big passions. I'm lucky to live in northwest New Jersey where there are lots of parks (state and national), hiking trails and true wilderness. Nature always calms and inspires me. Most of us are so removed from the physical world, and I think this is one of the best ways to bring us back to earth, literally and figuratively!

Finally, don't give up on your dreams, whatever they are! When I knew I had a good novel, despite years of rejection, I decided to get it out there anyway. I just wanted it read. If I couldn't get the validation I wanted, at least I'd have the pleasure of getting it into readers' hands. After all, that's why we really write, isn't it?

Well, that led me to the success that eluded me, a wonderful publishing contract. And the validation most writers want from the publishing world. To know that YES! You're good enough!

If I hadn't believed, persevered, and taken that risk, I wouldn't be an internationally published author today.

Describe your writing schedule. Do you outline? Any habits?

I'm definitely an early morning writer. I like to get up before the world is awake, when there are no distractions, and go right to work. I find my mind is at its most pure then.

I also do a lot of writing/work when I'm walking. Walking became part of my routine when I began The Richest Season. It was my first novel, and I didn't have a process, really, just a premise, that of a corporate wife who was running away from her life. I only planned a few chapters ahead, and while I was walking, things would begin to unfold and I eventually began carrying a recorder. It's funny, I didn't intentionally start this; it was coincidental. I'd walk, needing a break, to clear my head, and I'd try not to think. My mind would relax and then...ideas, dialogue and plot points would start popping into my head. I'd go home and write like crazy.

I don't outline so each book I'd get to a certain point, usually about three-quarters through a draft, and go back to the beginning and edit and polish and keep going. It usually takes me about three to five drafts before I feel comfortable enough to write an ending. It has to be organic for me, not something I'm making fit. Because things change as you write, characters change, and what might seem right changes, too.

I listen to light classical or new age music while I write. It relaxes me, and it's nice to have a bit of noise. Writing can be so lonely.

What are your favorite reads?

I love fiction and read everything from literary to suspense to chick-lit. I particularly love books on time travel, and my two all time favorites are Time and Again by Jack Finney, which is old but worth finding, and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

I also read a lot of spiritual, self-help (though I hate that term), and have reread many times The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Buddhism: Plain & Simple and a self-published book that is my all-time favorite, The Art of Becoming Oneself.

I love reading books on writing by other writers, but I think my favorite on this would have to be Max Perkins: Editor of Genius. What an incredible look at the editing side of writers like Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Wolf, Rawlins and Cather. This is the inside look at the most renowned editor of some of the greatest writers of all time. It does a writer good to know that even they struggled.

Which authors inspire you?

I love Richard Russo, Anita Shreve, Anne Rivers Siddons, Diana Gabaldon, Jack Finney, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wharton and Dickens.

I'm so inspired by the beauty of Fitzgerald's writing, and the language of Annie Proulx's works. Ann Lamott just kills me with her books on writing, especially Bird by Bird. How is someone that smart about this crazy pursuit? But she gets me every time.

What have you learned from this experience?

Believe! I got rejected for so many years with my first novel. It was so disheartening, and I shelved it three times, but I kept having friends tell me not to give up. And there was that part of me that just didn't want to, that really BELIEVED The Richest Season was a really good book.

I feel the same way now about The Book Lover. Despite being passed by a hand full of editors who were "uncomfortable" with the, perhaps, too honest portrayal of the publishing world, I believe in this book. And I think I'm on a journey I'm meant to be on, in my personal as well as my professional life. I often laughingly call it my "Lifetime Life" (as in a Lifetime movie) because the twists and turns, the irony, and the curve balls never cease.

In the past year and a half, I've survived changing publishers, cancer and divorce after 36 years of marriage. I've faced every big fear I've ever had, and it was a long and scary road for a while. Financially, I may be hanging onto my life with my fingernails, but I wake up each morning with a sense of excitement because I feel hope--personally and professionally.

What type of cancer did you have? I'm a breast cancer survivor myself.

I had uterine cancer and was very fortunate as it was in the early stage. It's been over a year, and I'm happy to say I'm healthy. But it's a life-changing experience, as you know. Everything is put into perspective and suddenly you know what's important. I call it "the other female cancer" as I feel there's not enough attention paid to this one and its symptoms. I'd like to write about that and make women aware of this cancer, too.

What is your advice for aspiring writers?

To believe in what you do, but to be open to criticism and it's a fine line there. Ask any bookseller and they'll tell you that most self-published books are lacking. Use a professional editor, and proofreader, if you decide to go that route. Make it the best book possible. And when it's done, put it away for a few months and then reread it and see if, with distance and time, you still think it's the best it can be.

Don't be afraid to cut! Sometimes the hardest thing is to cut material we love. Those gorgeous words! But, it can be liberating. Try it, you can always paste it back in. You want the story to be as efficient as it can be.

What are you doing these days? 

I left real estate in 2006 and I'm currently teaching writing, and reading. But the bulk of my work time is getting The Book Lover ready to launch.

I wish I was writing more! I have two novels I've been writing, and keep going back and forth, something I've never done before. They're very different: one is an historical novel based on a murder in my hometown back in the 1800s (it was the OJ trial of the era); the other is more a romantic dramady with four couples as characters, which actually began as a screenplay. In addition, because I've helped so many other authors launch and promote their books, I've been writing an ebook on that, and it's nearly finished.

The Book Lover

Publisher: Three Women Press

Author: Maryann McFadden

Penned: May 2012

Other Works: The Richest Season and So Happy Together. Both are ranked Indie Next Pick must-reads by the American Booksellers Association.

Time Out: Passion, dreams, struggles, love and betrayal make the 325 pages fly by.

Beach Worthy: By all means! This touching, girlfriend-approved romance belongs in every Boomer Babe's beach bag.

Available: $14.99 paperback from Amazon.com and other book sellers

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