Susan McBride is the author of women’s fiction, including The Truth About Love and Lighting, Little Black Dress, and The Cougar Club. Foreign editions of her books have been published in France, Croatia, and Turkey. She has also written a short memoir for HarperCollins called In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40, which was released in October of 2012 to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Susan is a six-year breast cancer survivor and an “accidental Cougar,” having married a man nine years younger. In June of 2012, at the ripe old age of 47, Susan gave birth to their daughter, Emily. As Susan likes to say, “life is never boring.”The Truth About Love and Lighting, which just came out on Tuesday, is a deliciously emotional story of family, forgiveness, love, and magic. As far as Gretchen Brink is concerned, the tornado that just ripped through her land has nothing on the storms of a different sort happening all around her. Her grown daughter, Abby, has returned home with news that she’s pregnant, and no, she’s not sure whether she’s going to marry the father. A man with no memory has been dropped practically on her doorstep. And the not-so-little white lie she’s been telling for years is about to catch up with her…
This is sure to be a terrific read, and we are so glad to have Susan taking the Deb Interview today.
Thanks for joining us! Tell us, who is one of your favorite (fictional or non-fictional) characters?
Scarlett O’Hara. I’ve been in love with her since I first read Gone With the Wind many moons ago. Yeah, she’s a bitch. But she’s also a survivor. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word “defeat.” We should all have her sass.
Talk about one thing that’s making you happy right now.
My family! I am so happy being a mom. Emily has brought such change into our lives but it’s all good. Every day is an adventure, that’s for sure. I thought being married was the greatest but having a baby is definitely the icing on the wedding cake (um, excuse the pun!). Em has taught me what’s important–HER–so I don’t obsess over everything else so much.
Where do you love to be?
At home with Ed and Emily in my jammies just chillin’. Right now, we’re in the midst of a move and selling our old house (and I’ve got a new book out, like moving isn’t enough!). So I’m dreaming of calmer days ahead.
Which talent do you wish you had?
I wish I could sing! I love belting out old ’80s rock, particularly Def Leppard. But I’m always off-key. Emily loves music and she’ll fall asleep faster if you sing to her. But sometimes I find her looking up at me, and I know she’s thinking, “Mom, you’re a little out of tune, you know.”
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
Be like Scarlett O’Hara and don’t accept defeat. It’s a tough business to break into and stay in, for that matter. Do it because you love it, not because you think you’re going to be the next J.K. Rowling. Write to entertain yourself. Accept criticism and learn from it. Don’t try to be like anyone else. You don’t have to “know what you write”–you can always learn. I find great joy in discovering new things as I write. If I only wrote what I knew, I’d get bored really quickly. Oh, and don’t have your mother be your first reader. She’ll tell you everything you do is “fabulous,” even if it’s not true.
I love Susan McBride and was lucky enough to meet her a few years ago. I’m thrilled to see she’s so happy – she certainly deserves it.
Thanks so much for joining us, Susan! And I, too, love Scarlett O’Hara :).
Thanks for having me today, Dana! Scarlett does kick butt, doesn’t she? 😉 Oh, Kathy, thanks! You are too sweet. I loved meeting you at SIBA, too. Hope we run into each other again some day!
Susan, I am so glad you came to visit us! I am so excited to read this book. Give Emily a huge smooch for me and Griffin!