Started by Kathryn Kuitenbrower, the “Next Big Thing” poses 10 questions to writers about what they are working on. I answer those questions here. See links below this post to find out what big thing other writers are working on.
1. What is the working title of your current book? Older, Faster, Stronger.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book? I have been wanting to write a book about running since, well, I started training for my first marathon three years ago. And then a book editor approached me to ask if I was interested in writing a running book.
3. What genre does your book fall under? Sports, adventure, memoir, health!
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? This is part memoir and part quest to find eternal youth through running. Since people have told me I look like Sally Field when we were both in our 20s…if she ran, she could really be the flying nun.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A runner’s quest to find out how women are running faster and stronger into their 50s, 60s and beyond,and what the women’s running boom can teach us about living younger and stronger, longer.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Literary Agency represents me.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? I’m projecting a year from now will see me with a complete MS and a couple of personal bests in the 5k, half marathon and marathon.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? My favourite running books are Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and To Be a Runner by Martin Dugard but I’m waiting for a scintillating running narrative written by a woman so why not write one? Maybe my book will be The Next Big Thing?
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? Simply put, running. Running transforms you. It makes you physical and mentally strong and confident. Millions of women have taken up running and the sport is transforming them – it’s the wave of feminism that will see women take control of all the leadership roles in the world. You read it here first.
10. What else about your book might pique your reader’s interest? Barring me being hit by a bus, I believe running will help me live young until I’m 100 and maybe longer. That will buy an entire second act to my writing career and life. And it can for you too. What’s not to like about that?
Other writers at work on The Next Big Thing: