Clair Cook (The Wildwater Walking Club) reveals that she wrote her first novel in an unusual place at an unusual age ... In this month's 1-On-One!

Is it possible to be a good writer without being a good reader?

I don’t think you can be a writer without being an avid, joyful reader. My theory is that when you read, a template forms in some mysterious part of your brain that allows you to write a book. Six-and-a-half novels in, I still don’t have any idea how to actually write a novel. It’s my inner reader that saves me every time!

Have you ever belonged to a reading group?

I’ve been a guest at lots of book clubs, in person or via phone or online, so I feel like an honorary member of book clubs across the country. But as much as I love them, I’m afraid I’m too busy writing to commit to one, and I think it’s important to make that commitment. Book clubs are endlessly fascinating, and I love how each one is different. I’ve talked to book clubs that take themselves very seriously, and to others that are all about fun – and wine and food! I chatted with one book club comprised of sisters who have discuss one book a year went they rent a beach house together, and to another comprised of mothers and daughters who meet monthly.

I’ve even heard from groups who are planning to walk while they talk about The Wildwater Walking Club! I love the idea of getting your workout in while you talk about a book – multitasking at its finest – so along with a book club guide, I also wrote a walking club guide!

What advice do you have for reading group members when it comes to selecting books for discussion?

Mix it up! And allow yourself to have some fun occasionally. Just because a book isn’t dark or depressing, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it.

Your characters are often described as authentic and alive. Do they come solely from your imagination or do you base them on real people? Do you relate to some of them more than others?
 
I relate to all the characters in my novels. I think you have to, at least to some degree, in order to write the characters. It’s all about being a good eavesdropper, and it’s all grist for the mill. If we’re ever at a restaurant at the same time, I promise you I’ll be listening to the conversation at your table!
 
So, it’s as if you take parts of yourself, of people you know, plus things you’ve observed and imagined, and put them into a paper bag, shake it all up, and pull everything out in a new order. The little pieces that are true blend with the parts you imagine until a character is born.
 
When did you first know you were a writer?
 
When I was three. My mother entered me in a contest to name the Fizzies whale, and I won in my age group. It's quite possible that mine was the only entry in my age group since "Cutie Fizz" was enough to win my family a six-month supply of Fizzies tablets (root beer was the best flavor) and a half dozen turquoise plastic mugs with removable handles. At six I had my first story on the Little People's Page in the Sunday paper (about Hot Dog, the family dachshund, even though we had a beagle at the time -- the first clue that I'd be a novelist and not a journalist) and at sixteen I had my first front page feature in the local weekly. I majored in film and creative writing in college, and fully expected that the day after graduation, I go into labor and a brilliant novel would emerge fully formed, like giving birth.

So what happened?
 
In a word: nothing. I guess I knew how to write, but not what to write. Looking back, I can see that I had to live my life so I'd have something to write about, and if I could give my younger self some good advice, it would be not to beat myself up for the next couple of decades. Instead, I pretended I wasn't feeling terrible about not writing a novel, and did a lot of other creative things.
 
Years later, when I was in my forties and sitting in my minivan outside my daughter's swim practice at 5 AM, it hit me that I might live my whole life without ever once going after my dream of writing a novel. So, I wrote my first novel in the pool parking lot. It was published at 45, and at 50 I walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the movie version of my second novel, Must Love Dogs. The characters in all my novels, from Life’s a Beach to Summer Blowout to The Wildwater Walking Club, are reinventing themselves, too, so the theme of my life is very much in keeping with that of my books!

What other comments do you hear from readers?
 
Two favorites are "I can't remember when I laughed out loud like that" and "Ohmigod, you're writing my life!" Also, a woman came to one of my book events to tell me that she'd missed her subway stop because she was reading one of my books!
 
Do you think you'll ever write a sad book?
 
In one of the many gifts of midlife, I've learned that I don't have to write everybody's books, just mine. I read voraciously and widely, but I think my gift as a novelist is to make people laugh, and also to recognize themselves and their quirky families and maybe feel a little bit better about them. And I think there's plenty of pain and suffering in the world without me personally adding to it.

Words to live by?

Karma is a boomerang. One of my characters said that, and I completely concur!

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