No sooner do Emma’s parents leave town to enjoy their retirement, than she lands the company’s biggest get, an impressive mansion on the exclusive Quail Ridge Road. Only, this mansion has a less than exclusive past. A bed and breakfast for male guests that was more bed than breakfast. Another promising fancy house Emma takes on has a similarly checkered past.

Should Emma let prudish principals get in the way of making money? Falling for the town’s chief of police only complicates matters. Expect an active plotline, some unusual and timely deaths, lots of romance, and some good luck for those who had given up on it. Below is an edited version of our chat. You can listen to the entire conversation here on Elena Meets the Author, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Elena: Elinor, you’ve written 17 books. Where do you get your delightful madcap ideas from? And specifically, where did you get the idea for Every Tom, Dick and Harry?

 I don’t get a full-blown idea ever. I don’t get a plot. If I’m lucky, I get an opening line. And then I follow the advice of an old writing teacher of mine: prepare to write badly. I just think of a sentence that’ll lead to the next thing, maybe it’ll inspire me, a character pops in. It’s sort of a seat of the pants approach, but it’s what I’ve done.

And as far as Every Tom, Dick and Harry with Emma taking the reins of her parent’s estate sale business, I go to estate sales a lot. I got a few things that made me feel like I had a bit of a link with the owner. I got a plate; I got some serving bowls. Every time I use them, I think of the owner. Usually, I write something and then throw it away. Not the whole thing, maybe the first chapter. I’ve thrown away as much as 125 pages.

I’m constantly polishing, until I feel I can move on. So, this is not a guidebook to anyone thinking, how do I get an idea for a novel? But it’s more just sit down and don’t be put off by the fact that you feel uninspired. You may have the glimmer of an idea or an opening line. Start with an opening line.

I saw in your acknowledgements that you thank your police chief friend, someone that you’ve known since fourth grade.

 Jimmy Mulligan, bless his heart. Yes.

 I was just wondering whether he gave you some good narrative advice on being a cop. And if so, can you tell us any of his tips.

 He was a police officer, a chief and a superintendent and he went to the FBI academy and all this other stuff so sometimes I’ll send him an email and say something like, the cop is at the end of the street, and he’s not letting people go through because there’s been a possible tragedy. When’s he going to let the people through? When’s anyone going to being able to get to the house? He gives me specific advice. So, whenever there’s a policeman and Luke (the policeman in the book..) is in the scene, Jimmy Mulligan has approved the dialogue.

Did you stay in touch with him since the fourth grade?

I think it was my 20th high school reunion; I saw Jimmy at the event.We talked and he gave me his card and said, if you ever have a question about a cop, call me. Well, I certainly did. Cops show up in all my novels.

In your acknowledgements, you also thank, Facebook friends and a neighbor for their contributions.  It seems that you don’t have to look that far for story ideas or information helpful to your novel. You just have to be open.

 I think that’s very true. I remember once being at a reading with Anita Shreve, who was a really close friend of mine, and I just miss her terribly. Someone was asking about research. Her books take place, here, there, and everywhere.

And I remember Anita saying that she does research on a need-to-know basis. I do too. I don’t get in my car and go to 20 estate sales and take notes. It’s more what I gleam looking back at things I’ve noticed.

And you know the other thing that was hugely helpful in this novel besides Jimmy Mulligan is Jonathan, my English beau. He is an appraiser for an auction house. He’s the one that leads me to these estate sales. He was very helpful in terms of what would be on the wall at this fancy B& B/brothel. The ending has a lot to do with art too.

 And I remember the auction business featured in your last hilarious book, Miss Demeanor. Thank you, Jonathan. Hah

Oh yeah, big time. We joke about how  much I’ve monetized him because I’ve written about him in Modern Love (Taking a Break for Friendship) , and I’m working on another piece right now for the Free Press that Jonathan enters into because it’s about widowhood.

Didn’t you also have a collection of essays?

 Yes

What’s it called?

 It’s called, I Can’t Complain.

And one of the essays was about him before you started going out…

 It was when we were seeing each other as friends, his choice, not mine. I called what we had going on a nomance, because it was. We were seeing each other for about six months. My collection came out, with the essay called A Fine Nomance about meeting him, and how nothing happened, and I pretended in that essay that that was about right for me.

You know, like I was a widow, and that all I needed was this friendship. And he read that essay. We were seeing each other still in a platonic fashion. But I was picking up a few new vibes. He said he wanted to talk to me. And he came over. I had wine and smoked salmon ready.

But it happened to be a distracting day. It was the same day that this really wonderful review appeared in the New York Times of both books that were brought out simultaneously. The View from Pantos B and the essay collection. So, he comes over at six, and I was getting phone calls. And I talked to my son, and I was getting emails. Finally, he told me that what he wanted to tell me was that he didn’t want to be just friends anymore.

He was taking his time. Maybe he was just being British?

 Oh, for sure. And that was 12 years ago.

I’m so glad it worked and I’m so glad he’s a font of material for you.

 A font of material is right, and he’s such a good sport.

Back to your book, I notice in both Miss Demeanor and in Every Tom, Dick and Harry, your novels take place in small settings. Do you prefer limiting your settings to one place where everybody knows each other, or they’re somehow connected?

 Yes, I would say so. I was recently asked, what are your goals for the next book? And I began by saying, I’m always trying to get my characters outside. I have a t-shirt that says Indoorsy. I have to push myself

That’s funny because in Miss Demeanor they’re under house arrest.

 That’s the ultimate. I have to push myself to not have every conversation taking place at the table. Dialogue is the easiest thing for me. So where does the dialogue take place? I don’t have them on adjoining treadmills at the gym. I have them sitting down, eating.

Maybe personally that’s where you’re happiest?

 Yes, I also like the cooking part of it.

You probably get this question all the time, but what advice would you give aspiring comedic writers?

I don’t like books that are allegedly funny, and I can see that the author’s straining to tell jokes and be funny. When I do a reading, I discover what people find funny, what they’re laughing at.

So, people laugh at a sentence, a word sometimes. And I think, well I didn’t know that was funny. But of course, at the next reading or event, if people don’t laugh at that same line, I’m disappointed. I would say, if I find myself reaching to say something funny for a line, I cut that line out.

So, maybe you’re either a funny person or you’re not. And if it’s forced, it will come off as forced.

When I watch a standup comedian, I like the ones that are just talking about their life and their observations. They are just observations, but they’re funny to other people, and it’s their rye way of viewing things.

I don’t like comics who laugh at their own jokes. I like a straight face where they describe something that they experienced, something that they viewed, and it’s funny.

 I have a question about your schedule. Do you pretty much, regardless of whether you have an idea or not, do you say, I’m going to sit down at my computer, at such and such a time, five days a week or more?

  I like to write in the morning. And that of course had to do with when my son was in nursery school, and then school, and my husband went off to work at 6:30 in the morning. He was a doctor. That was very convenient, out the door at 6:30.  I aim for 500 words a day, five days a week.

But if the 500 words come quickly because it’s a lot of dialogue, I say, okay, it’s only nine in the morning, or nine thirty, or ten. You’ve got a whole day ahead, and that’s disgraceful, and why don’t you keep going. So then, 750 sounds good, and then I think, well, as long as I’m at 750 words, do 1,000.

I definitely push myself. I don’t know what’s next, but I’m just going to give it a try and write something. And then maybe I throw that away, but it leads to an idea.  I’m quite religious about that.

And if we’re out driving – not me driving, Jonathan- and I get an idea for the book, then I’ll take out a pen and the notebook that’s sitting there near the gear shift and write it down. I got the idea for Good Riddance sitting in the passenger seat of the car. I pay attention to those little glimmers. Jonathan’s used to it. It might be just the tiniest thing that one of the characters I’m working on is doing tomorrow.

My last question is what books are you excited to read?

 I’m reading a book right now by British author Marianne Cronin. She’s really a smart writer. It’s called Eddie Winston is Looking for Love. Eddie Winston, who’s 94, has never been kissed. He works in a charity shop, so it’s full of second-hand stuff.

I’m also reading Emma because Simon & Schuster is doing an anthology where each story is going to be about a minor character in any Jane Austen novel. And I’ve chosen Miss Bates from Emma. So, I’m rereading Emma and watching every movie and TV program about Emma. My story is due March 1st.

 You are busy. It’s impressive. Well, that’s all my questions. It was really lovely talking to you.

 Same here.

Thank you and good luck

March, 2025

And as a writer or an artist of any kind, it’s really easy, if you don’t have a day job to forget who you are and forget what you’re doing.

My mother was in the early stages of dementia, I didn’t know it at the time when I started writing this book. Elise’s mother is very much inspired by my own mother, who was eccentric and beautiful and had boundary issues.

Like I would invite friends over and she would ask them about their sex lives. And this would happen even before they had sex lives. So when her eccentricity became more erratic, I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew things were off.

At the same time, I had been writing children’s books. I had written eleven children’s books. Some of them were quite popular, but I was having a hard time getting a book published, getting my 12th book published.

So, I decided that Elise, the main character, would not be a children’s book author, she would be a playwright, but she was dealing with these same career issues that I was facing, the erosion of self-confidence, and still dealing with all these life issues.

Elena: Very hard. And midlife.

 Right, and she’s recently divorced and, everything was going great for her early on and suddenly her life doesn’t make sense in the way she thought it would.

Elena: Each chapter is named after the day in which Elise writes her morning pages. So there’s day one, day two, and so on as we approach day 65, the deadline for Elise’s play, Deja New. Not only is that a clever writing device, but you scatter excerpts from Deja New throughout your book. A story within a story.

And that play, in many ways, mirrors the main plot. An adult daughter struggling with her divorced parents who still hate each other. In the play, the divorced parents fall back in love again. In the main story, not so much. I’m wondering about your writing process. Did you write the entire play, Deja New, or just those excerpts that we see in the book?

Well, at one point I thought, you know, if I’m writing a play about a playwright, I need to write a play. So, I took a playwriting class, I read a ton of plays, and I wrote scenes from the play. And then I wrote the entire play. The entire play is actually in the book.

It has a plot, a story arc and an ending and some unexpected scenes. So, it really does read as a story within the story. Originally, I wasn’t planning to have any scenes of the play in the book. I had just written the play as an exercise because I thought it was important. But then when we were going through the edits of the book, I told my editor I have the play. She asked to see scenes, and we started putting them in, then more and more, until the entire play is in the book. So, it’s a substory.

Elena: Interesting. You tell us in the acknowledgements that your spirited mother, Judy Feiffer, used to tell you, ‘I’ve given you the material, you should use it.’ So, obviously, Trudy is very much based on your mother. What about your father? Is he here too?

There’s a character named Larry in the play, and while Larry is not my father, there are many aspects of my father. I really wanted to explore the relationships we have as adults with our parents when those are complicated relationships, and the hold our parents continue to have on us, even when we’re in our thirties, forties, fifties.

I really was fascinated by this relationship between adult children and their aging adult parents and how the relationships, during our tumultuous teenage years can continue. I have had complicated relationships with both my parents and was really interested in exploring those issues.

Elena: It’s such a good point. It’s very difficult. I heard you say in one interview, that caregivers told you that you should never give your mother a bath. Something would be triggering for you, for any daughter. It’s hard to separate the person that they were from the person that they are.

 Writer’s block is a big theme in Morning Pages. Elise struggles with what to write, so she resorts to writing about what’s going on in her actual life. Do you get writer’s block? And if so, how do you deal with it? And did having such successful parents impact your ability to write at all?

Second question first, yes, absolutely. It was very inhibiting, even though they were incredibly supportive. Both of them were absolutely 100 percent supportive of all my artistic endeavours. It was incredibly inhibiting.

Elena: Your father won a Pulitzer.

My father’s won a trillion awards. My father is absolutely brilliant and had this amazing career.

But like I said, (my writer’s block) was all self-imposed. I’m not blocked at beginnings. I am pretty good with middles. My block is a finishing block, an ending block.

Elena: Writer’s end block.

 That’s got to be a thing, right?

Elena: Guess so.  I think, in terms of writer’s block, that sounds like not a bad one. Because at least you get started and you get to the middle. But, so did you struggle with the endings in your book, the one in Deja New, and in Elise’s real life?

Struggled with both of them. Then I was taking a walk, I’m a big walker. In fact, there’s a lot of walking that happens in Morning Pages. Suddenly the ending came to me clearly. It was one of those epiphanies.

Elena: It’s very good because your ending, it’s not tied in a perfect bow. The book is written in the first person. Was that an easy decision?

 Yes, because I knew I wanted to use this device of morning pages So obviously you can’t get into the heads of other people. The hardest part was writing something in her voice, without making it too whiney. The humour was really important to me. The story unfolds in 65 days. I wanted each of the days to be its own little routine. It was basically like writing 65 little stories.

Elena How about transitioning from writing children’s books to book for adults? Was that a challenge or not really?

It was fun. You can use language. One of the things about writing children’s books, is it’s a marriage of pictures and words. I think very visually, but there aren’t long diescriptions since it’s in first person. You have to lose description about where you are, what people look like, but I still hope it’s visual.

Elena: It is. You have Elise’s reactions to what people are wearing, etc so you see things though her eyes. You dedicate your book to two writers groups. Can you tell us about those groups and how they helped you?

 I have a long-time writers group in Martha’s Vineyard. We all love each other.  I started to get worried because they were a great audience. I’d read them stuff. They’d laugh. They’d love it. But I really wanted to to have a writer’s group where people didn’t love me and people didn’t know me.

And so, I started spending more time in New York once my daughter went off to college and I formed a writer’s group in the city. It was four women working on first novels (first adult novel for me). We were all trying to share sections from our books together. They were also responding really well, and I was like, ‘oh great, they don’t love me and they still love the book.’

Elena:. Are you working on something now?

 I have ideas for something. I’m working on a children’s book that I want to illustrate, and I think it’s funny and clever. I have an idea for another book, but I haven’t really started it yet.

Elena: For adults.

 Adults, yes.

Elena: The Divorced Virgins.

 The Divorced Virgins.

Elena: That’s an inside joke for those who haven’t read the book. Anyway, that’s it for my questions. Thank you so much. I want everybody to read this book or listen to the Audible or both. It’s relevant and it’s very funny.

November, 2024