Today I'm pleased to welcome
Bridget McNulty, author of Strange Nervous Laughter
as a guest blogger.
***** ****** *****
An overflowing book...
It's interesting, having your first novel published. Strange Nervous Laughter was published here in South Africa in 2007, but it only came out in the USA last month, so I'm getting to relive the whole debut novel excitement all over again (I love it!) Still, it's interesting the questions you get asked... One of the most common of which is, "So when's your next book coming out?"
It's flattering, of course, because it means that there are people out there who enjoyed the first book enough to want to read another one. But it's also ever-so-slightly stressful. Because, despite common law stating that you should have written a second book within two years of publishing the first, that's not always the best route to follow... At least, I don't think it is.
For me, I feel as if I poured 25 years of living, and loving, and thinking into Strange Nervous Laughter, 25 years of formulating ideas and coming up with theories about love, and why Only Great Love Will Do. And if I tried to dash off another novel in the next year or two, just because that's what is expected of me, it wouldn't be a very full, or meaningful book. It wouldn't be overflowing with carefully thought-out ideas and rich metaphors and deep life lessons. It wouldn't change anyone's life.
And despite any opinions to the contrary, that's what I'm looking for in a book: a little bit of life-changing. I have no time for mediocre reads, or pleasant but not deeply satisfying books. When I read I want something that will forever alter the way I look at life in some small way... And when I write, I want to write that kind of book.
It's flattering, of course, because it means that there are people out there who enjoyed the first book enough to want to read another one. But it's also ever-so-slightly stressful. Because, despite common law stating that you should have written a second book within two years of publishing the first, that's not always the best route to follow... At least, I don't think it is.
For me, I feel as if I poured 25 years of living, and loving, and thinking into Strange Nervous Laughter, 25 years of formulating ideas and coming up with theories about love, and why Only Great Love Will Do. And if I tried to dash off another novel in the next year or two, just because that's what is expected of me, it wouldn't be a very full, or meaningful book. It wouldn't be overflowing with carefully thought-out ideas and rich metaphors and deep life lessons. It wouldn't change anyone's life.
And despite any opinions to the contrary, that's what I'm looking for in a book: a little bit of life-changing. I have no time for mediocre reads, or pleasant but not deeply satisfying books. When I read I want something that will forever alter the way I look at life in some small way... And when I write, I want to write that kind of book.
Bio: Bridget McNulty is a passionate writer inspired by why people act the way they do. With a Creative Writing degree from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she now works as a freelance writer in Cape Town, South Africa, and spends her days reading, writing, and drinking tea in her hammock (which is a lot trickier than it sounds!) Her first novel, Strange Nervous Laughter, was published in South Africa in 2007 and in the USA in May 2009.
To find out more about Bridget McNulty, Strange Nervous Laughter, and Only Great Love Will Do, visit www.bridgetmcnulty.com. Watch the book trailer (a little something called The Lonely Cupcake) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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A great book is like a little staycation! You just get on the couch open the pages and leave!
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