The Legend of Zoey by Candie Moonshower Delacorte, July 2006 Candie Moonshower Candie Moonshower, Queen of Multitasking Candie's other office

Q&A with Candie Moonshower, author of The Legend of Zoey

SWJ: What inspired The Legend of Zoey?

CM: I'm a Tennessee girl, even though I grew up overseas in Okinawa as a child. I love my home state and all the neat history, too! I'd heard about Reelfoot Lake, which was formed during the powerful New Madrid earthquakes of the winter of 1811 and 1812, and I'd always been fascinated by it. But how the idea of Zoey came to me had to do with natural disasters in general—one of those "what if" moments we writers are so famous for! One day I thought, "What would it be like to be in the midst of a natural disaster, like a flood or quake or hurricane, and not have a telephone, the Red Cross, or hospitals down the road to send help?" I thought of my (at the time) teenaged son, David, for whom a cell phone and other modern conveniences are like breathing. I tried to imagine how he might cope in such a circumstance. A voice popped into my head—a young girl's voice—and she was bemoaning the fact that her Social Studies class was going on a field trip to Reelfoot Lake, instead of Christmas shopping at Opry Mills Mall. She sounded pretty sassy! And from there, another "what if" popped into my head—what if Zoey Saffron Lennon Smith-Jones—a thoroughly modern young girl with every technological convenience known to man—were thrown back in time to the days of the New Madrid quakes? I wrote a couple of notes on a piece of scrap paper and filed it away. A few months later, when Zoey wouldn't stop chatting away in my head, I sat down and wrote her first journal entry.

SWJ: You had a kickstart toward publication by winning the SCBWI Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award. Tell us about that.

CM: I won a grant to attend the SCBWI annual national conference in Los Angeles in the summer of 2003. Like everyone else, I had the opportunity (for $50) to submit a manuscript partial for critique. With the encouragement of my critique group, the Story Board, I subbed the first (and only) 40 pages of Zoey. I was not placed with an editor or agent, but I didn't really care. I was having such a blast out there that the scheduled critique was almost an afterthought for me. When I went for the critique, I met Mary Wade, an author and retired librarian. After telling me that she was not in a position to request my manuscript (I think she'd had some folks before me that were disappointed that she wasn't an editor), she said those four magic words: "I love this story!" She told me she'd laughed her head off. That made my day! She asked several pertinent questions about the historical aspects of the book (you gotta love librarians), and pointed out some stuff she'd marked in the manuscript. As our time drew to a close, she told me that she wanted to nominate my manuscript for the Sue Alexander Award. I didn't really even know what that meant, but I said, "Sure, okay!"

The Sue Alexander Award, I've since learned, is awarded to the manuscript that the real-live Sue Alexander deems most promising out of all that are subbed for critique at the annual national conference. Critiquers can nominate a manuscript. Sue herself reads them. The winner gets a trip to the New York City conference in February with an opportunity to set up appointments with agents or editors. But, in my opinion, the most important part of the prize package is the "press release" that SCBWI sends out to publishing houses announcing the winner.

I opted not to go to New York the February after I'd won the award. But in the meantime, the press release went out, and editors began to call and e-mail requesting the manuscript.

SWJ: So you sent it out right away?

CM: No! And for the same reason I opted not to go to New York right away. There was no finished book—I still only had the 40-page partial that had won the award! When I returned from LA that August, I took over the management of a small learning center (my boss's wife had died just days before). I was working nights and weekends. And I wasn't writing.

SWJ: So what was it like having editors call you?

CM: Exciting—and scary! I lied like a rug, as the saying goes! First, I told them all, "Oh my critique group has the last few chapters. I'll send it out soon." Next, I panicked. Then, I buckled down. I had a rare moment of genius that told me I had one opportunity, and I'd better not screw it up. I started writing on Zoey again in December and finished it in February. I sent the manuscript off to about 25 or so houses. I got rejected—but I had an offer two weeks later from Delacorte, an imprint of Random House.

SWJ: How did you write the book in less than three months?

CM: Like a maniac! My husband took over a lot of the domestic duties several evenings a week. Some nights, I'd go to the library until it closed. I stayed up after everyone went to bed. The usual things! And then I got to about the three-quarters point and realized that my plot was askew. This was in January. I stopped writing and sat down and outlined the plot as it was, and then outlined it as it ought to be, and I started over, almost from scratch. My fabulous online critique group, the Story Board—of which I'm an original member since we formed in February of 2001—supported me every step of the way. At any given time, I could count on various members of the group to drop everything and read chapters and respond. Now, with more and more of our members signing contracts all the time, I'm so tickled to be able to repay that same favor!

The main reason I did not give up, though, was that I realized I had received a rare opportunity to have my work seen and read by a lot of editors, and I didn't want to blow it. That was one time when fear really came in handy!

SWJ: Do you keep an idea file?

CM: Yes, I have an extensive idea file, although the phrase "idea file" is one I use euphemistically! Ideas come to me everyday. I have dozens of scraps of paper all over the house—in books, in my checkbook, in old purses, my kids' schoolbooks, in the junk drawer, in the phone book and, yes, in a file labeled "ideas." I also have scraps of paper in my car, and notebooks in there as well, in both the glove box and trunk. I keep a reporter's notebook in the car all the time because I do a lot of freelancing and, often, I'll get call-backs on a story while driving. If I'm waiting in line at school or wherever, often I'll jot down thoughts, plot scenarios, "what ifs" and the like. I always have a variety of projects in progress and at various stages.

SWJ: How do you keep so many projects-in-progress straight?

CM: Over a period of years, I realized that I was making myself miserable trying to work on only one project at a time—and I realized it because I'd spend months on one chapter trying to "perfect" it, a method that works for some writers but not me. The entire time I'd be trying to perfect something, a million ideas would be jumping around in my brain, squalling for attention! In a rare moment of self-analysis, it struck me that I'd always enjoyed jobs that had a lot of different duties. I decided to transfer that quality to my writing life. I began to allow myself to stop what I was doing and flesh out an idea or research a fact or write a paragraph or two on something new. It was liberating! And I could still begin and finish my freelance work while working on several interesting fiction projects. Now, I can't even imagine not having several articles and novels going at once. When I'm on fire with one, I forge ahead and write like crazy. But if I hit a snag, I switch to something else while my brain mulls things over.

As far as physically keeping everything straight—that is definitely a challenge. I used to have a "piling" system—piles of projects all over my office. My husband bought me this nifty rolling file thingie—it holds hanging files, but it's open, as in no drawers or anything. I can just look at it, see the tabs and pull what I need. In it, I keep my ten major projects files. That could include articles in progress, future articles that have been requested, and the various novels I'm working on, all filed by working title. Now, I just pull out the project I want to tackle, work away, then file it back. When things are finished, as in sold or published, I pull the hanging file out and put it in one of my many filing cabinets.

SWJ: What is your writing day like?

CM: Up until this past August, my writing days were nothing but crazy-mad! At one time, I had a teen, a toddler and a newborn at home simultaneously. The teen did go to school, but the toddler only went to a Mother's Day Out two mornings a week, and the newborn was home all day, everyday. I was helping my husband with his business, doing some freelance writing and trying to keep the house clean and the transportation logistics straight. I learned to write in small bursts of energy. I trained myself to ignore the infernal, internal editor. I got up early or went to bed late—whatever my writing called for, especially if I had a freelance deadline.

Now, barring it being summer and still having two children at home full-time, my writing day is far more organized! I get up and send the kids off to school. I spend an hour getting my house cleaned, laundry started, bills paid—whatever domestic duties are calling out to me. Also, and I think this is important for my "working mindset," I shower and dress, down to my shoes. Then I go to work.

I always have some kind of freelance deadline going, so another thing I've trained myself to do is put my fiction first. I know I'll make my freelancing deadlines—the professional in me won't let me be late on those. But with fiction—and not having anyone to be accountable to in the early days of a project—you have to be more disciplined. So if I do my fiction first, then that is done, and I'll get my freelancing deadlines met, too. At 2:30 in the afternoon, I quit working. It's time for the carpool, and after-school time is reserved for the kids. Evening is reserved for my husband. I try and put in four good hours a day. Compared to how I worked before my daughter started Kindergarten, I'm churning out a boatload of writing.

SWJ: You've said that you don't believe in writer's block. Explain that.

CM: For years, I used the excuse that I was blocked, but I came to realize that my writer's block was partly fear and partly distractions. How could I be blocked when I had the desire to write? That's when it struck me that I was confusing distractions with block. I made a conscious decision to write in whatever available time I had. I got up in the mornings, turned on my computer and uploaded my current projects. Then, throughout the day, whenever I had a few minutes, I sat down and wrote. I discovered that a lot of getting writing done is just "being there."

Fear is hard to overcome, but like jumping off a diving board, I think you have to close your eyes and throw yourself into it. My husband told me, "They can't read your mind in New York City!" When that didn't work, he said, "Okay, I must believe in your writing more than you do—so how about if I just wait until you're dead and submit everything you've written posthumously, but with my name on it?" That did the trick! And after I was roundly rejected a few dozen times (in short order), I realized how pointless all that fear really is in the grand scheme of things!

SWJ: You actually support yourself as a writer by doing freelance work in addition to novel writing. How's that going for you?

CM: I wouldn't say I support myself, although I do add to the family coffers and without having to return to the corporate or academic world, which is a huge plus. I'm doing what I want to do, and I'm home with my kids, too. That's a blessing.

It took me many years to build my freelancing income up to a respectable level, but I was busy with two late-in-life babies at the time, too, so that was to be expected. Now, I'm in a good spot, and I only take on work that I truly want to take the time to do or for which the money is excellent. I only make half per year (from my freelancing) as I made at one time in the corporate world, but when you factor out the costs incurred with driving cross town everyday, buying office-appropriate clothing, and paying after-care for the kids, it all evens out in my mind. And my stress level is far less, for sure!

I don't recommend that anyone just up and quit a job to write a novel, thinking that freelance writing will fill the gap. I've rarely seen that work out for anyone. I think it's good to be prudent unless you have disposable money on hand for bill-paying. But I am not against tightening the belt and deciding that some sacrifices are worth making to pursue a writing career. Having to sacrifice—for me—made me want to succeed that much more!

SWJ: You call yourself a "twenty-five year, overnight success." Explain that.

CM: I've been writing since I was eight years old, but I started a novel for teenagers in 1979 at the ripe old age of nineteen! And I sold a novel for teenagers in 2004—thus, the twenty-five years! But during those twenty-five years, I wrote a lot. I read a lot. I started freelancing and learned to work to spec and on deadline. And while folks sometimes ask, "Don't you wish it had all happened sooner?" the answer is "No!" I had a lot of living to do—and a lot of crappy writing to crank out. I think it all happened—for me—as it was supposed to happen.

Join us on July 11, 2006, 9 a.m. Pacific Time, for our first-ever Tele-Launch Party for the Legend of Zoey, featuring Candie Moonshower and as many friends and fans as care to call in. To help celebrate Zoey's release, Delacorte is donating ten copies of the novel. Candie will select ten winners from those people who register for the teleseminar! Please visit SmartWritersPro.com to register and get in on the party!