The Hot Author Report

Interview with Carla Buckley – Author of The Things That Keep You Here

Carla Buckley is the debut author of The Things That Keep Us Here (Delacorte Press, February 2010.) She was born in Washington, D.C., attended Oberlin College and The Wharton School for Business, and has worked in a variety of jobs, including a stint as an assistant press secretary for a U.S. senator, an analyst with the Smithsonian Institution, and a technical writer for a defense contractor. Orion in the UK and Wunderlich in Germany pre-empted rights to The Things That Keep Us Here and Buckley’s next book, and Random House has purchased audio rights. Buckley is the Chair of the International Thriller Writers Debut Program and currently lives in Ohio with her husband and children. For more, please visit www.CarlaBuckley.com.

Q: Tell us briefly about your book.

The Things That Keep Us Here is about one family’s struggle to survive a deadly avian influenza pandemic. The seed of the novel was planted about ten years ago, when I read Gina Kolata’s The Flu, a non-fiction book about the Great Pandemic. At that time, I knew nothing about the flu or the devastation it had waged worldwide, and Kolata’s book left a deep impression. Fast forward to 2007, when scientists and world health organizations began sounding the alarm that mankind was overdue for another pandemic, and my imagination went into overdrive. My husband is a scientist, and I knew that despite the major leaps science had taken in understanding the virus, mankind was almost as vulnerable now as it had been in 1918.

We had just moved to Ohio, where we knew no one, and I began to worry about how I could protect my children should the worst happen. One night, I had a nightmare that we were in a pandemic and I was forced to make a terrible decision. The next day, I began writing The Things That Keep Us Here, and that terrible decision became the linchpin of the novel.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

My next book also focuses on a global threat, as shown from the perspective of the non-scientist. In it, a woman, long estranged from her hometown and her family, returns to find her sister dead and others sick from the same disease. Although I don’t want to reveal the source of the illness, I will say it’s based on a truly frightening phenomenon that few people are aware of, but scientists across the world are researching, and I predict it will start making headlines shortly.

Q: What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write? Do you need the noise or the silence?

I love music! I wish I could listen to it while I write, but I need absolute silence. I have to hear the words resonate in my head as I write them, and often, I read them aloud. Music interrupts the flow, and my characters begin reciting lyrics. Their moods change; the settings shift, and my entire worldview slips from my grasp. At the end of the day, when I’m catching up on email or working on other online tasks, I turn on the music and sing (badly) along.

Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?

I began writing full-time when my children were very young. I would get up while it was still dark and while the coffeemaker burbled, write for an hour or two. I would snatch another few hours to work during their nap times. Now that they’re older and in school full-time, I write from the moment they get on the school bus until the moment they get off.

As a published author with real deadlines (instead of the imaginary ones I used to impose on myself), there are sometimes weeks when I’m completely immersed in writing, and my day can extend well into the evening. My son calls this “the time Mom stops making dinner.” Then, once my manuscript’s off to my editor and agent, I race around catching up on errands and chores. Although it hasn’t been easy juggling the demands of both writing and child-rearing, I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to pursue my career while being at home with my children.

Q: The main characters of your stories – do you find that you put a little of yourself into each of them or do you create them to be completely different from you?

People have always talked to me. I don’t know why–I’m usually in a rush! Nonetheless, I’ve had waitresses pull up a chair and tell me their stories. I’ve had people in waiting rooms lean over and whisper their sagas. I think there’s an interesting story in everyone, and I’m fascinated by how they choose to tell it. When my main characters evolve, they sometimes share an aspect or two with me, but largely, they emerge their own selves, a result of all these shared stories I’ve been privileged to hear.

Q: When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?

I spent my childhood overseas, and one of the ways my mother helped me feel a connection to home was to give me book subscriptions. Every month, a new Nancy Drew or Happy Hollisters or Enid Blyton would arrive in our mailbox. I would curl up in a windowseat or favorite chair, and read. On those days, my mother would allow me to stay up past my bedtime, just so that I could finish. Usually, she and my father would be nearby, working or reading their own books, and it was a very cozy and special time for me. I’ve always associated reading with great peacefulness and it’s no wonder I grew up to love reading.

Q: What is your writing space like? Do you have a designated space? What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Music? Lighting? Typing? Handwriting?

After years of writing in a corner of the kitchen, I now have a room of my own, with French doors that close and everything! It’s the den on our main floor, painted a deep green-gray color, and lined with bookshelves, my mother’s vibrant watercolors, photographs of my children, and large windows that overlook our quiet street. One shelf is devoted to the creations my children have crafted over the years (tiny wrapped boxes filled with a kiss, a hard-baked clay apple from a book report, a pink and yellow plastic beaded necklace), and another to the prizes my husband brings home to me from his business trips (a small brass Buddha, a painted wooden armadillo with a bobbing head, a stone shamrock.) I sit in a chair that allows me to lean back and roll around the room, and work at a desktop computer, with my hand on the mouse. Sunlight floods the room during the day, and in the evening, lamplight glows from the corner. It’s cozy and quiet, and bright.

Q: Is there any particular book that, when you read it, you thought, “I wish I had written that!”?

The first book that comes to mind would be Anita Shreve’s Testimony. I consider it the perfect book, taut with suspense, written with complete clarity and honesty, peopled with characters you can’t help but care for, or be moved by. Besides a suspense that hums, I love language that doesn’t carry the weight of one extra word. Testimony is all that, and more.

Q: Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?

I have a number of book signings and events planned around my release, in central Ohio, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Texas. I also plan to attend several conferences, including ThrillerFest, RWA, and Bouchercon. Information about all my events can be found on my website, and I look forward to meeting readers, wherever they may be.

Use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.

I can be reached at www.CarlaBuckley.com, and my book will be available everywhere books are sold. An audio version will also be available.