Hi Chris, in prepping for this you mentioned that each member of your family is an artist, I assume you were referring to your wife and daughter? How do their artistic pursuits influence your work, beyond your daughter narrating some of your audiobooks?
I see that The Jackal’s Mistress is your 25th book. What inspired you to start writing in the first place? What made it possible for you to take time out of your life to complete the book?
At what point did you consider yourself a successful novelist? Was there a specific event that made you think, “Wow, I’ve made it!”?
Has becoming a writer changed the way you read others’ books, and if so, how?
Take “time out of my life?”
I NEVER took time out of my life. Never.
I wrote my first three novels while working full-time in advertising. I wrote them from 5 am to 7 am in the morning before going to work, Monday and Tuesday nights after work, and then on the weekends.
I wrote my fourth novel while juggling journalism and a weekly newspaper column (which I would write every week from 1992 - 2015).
As for what inspired me to start? Who knows? But I still have some of the short stories I was writing even in fourth grade: I discovered my mother had saved them after my father died.
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Do we ever think we’ve made it?
Obviously I have “made it” by a lot of measures.
But there are still lots of days when I feel like a poser, moments when I fear my talent is not commensurate with my vision.
Well, I am more likely to understand the wiring and plumbing behind the Sheetrock.
But that’s true for all novelists.
I probably read 55 to 60 books every year, and I still love it when a book leaves me with all the feels at the end or gives me a whopping inferiority complex.
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What are some of the books you’ve read that you feel are exceptional?
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Earlier you said:
Have you ever started a book thinking you had a set direction, only to have it wide up somewhere else completely? Or have you had a character “hijack” a story - demand to be heard, or to have their story told, even though it’s not what you intended?
Is there a book you’ve written that you feel should have received more recognition than it did?
Oh, when you write 25 books, some will always draw more attention than others. But I have so fortunate to be the flavor of the month four times: Midwives, The Double Bind, The Sandcastle Girls, and The Flight Attendant. Now, I do wish more readers had discovered Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands, but because the narrator is a teenager, a lot of folks supposed mistakenly it was YA and passed. The reality, of course, is that lots of adults read lots of YA: there are, after all, SO many brilliant YA books. But, for whatever the reason, that novel – which I think is among my best – never caught on.
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Can I answer “all of them?” Or, perhaps, “most of them?” I rarely know where my books are going. I depend on my characters to take me by the hand and lead me through the dark of the story.
I probably read between 50 and 60 books every year. So, let’s just focus on “recent” books. Here are some of my faves:
The Wedding People
Broken Country
Martyr
Memorial Days
Challenger
Going Home
North Woods
Colored Television
Intermnezzo
The God of the Woods
Yellowface
Come and Get It
Grief is for People
Chain Gang All-Stars
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Oh, book clubs rock. I am so honored! Thank you! Do you all use the discussion guides publishers produce?
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Either I do or my brilliant editor, Jenny Jackson, does. Some of my titles are better than others. I considered calling this one The Jackal and Libby Steadman or Libby’s War or The Mistress Bullet. Would any of them have been better?
They are both two of my very first readers. But I think it goes deeper than that. Between the three of us, we must read close to 170 books a year, so we are always talking about books. My wife is a fine art photographer and my daughter is an actor, and our lives have always been infused with our attempts to make a living as artists (not always or ever easy) and to create the art that we want.
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Sometimes, but often we just start talking about our favorite parts or thoughts we had about certain characters and their responses to situations with which they are confronted. For instance, I think we all agreed that for anyone with an ounce of empathy that Libby had no other choice than to bring Jonathan home. The ending left us with conflicting emotions (which I’m sure you intended).
Have you ever asked yourself where in the world you’d like to visit and then ponder if that locale has the roots of a story just waiting for you to write? From your previous responses it seems the glimmer of an idea comes to you first followed by the research that might necessitate travel. My question could be described as the “chicken before the egg or egg before the chicken” syndrome. 
Where in the world would I like to visit and then delve into the surrounding history or where does the historical research lead me?
Thank you for the great list! I’ve read many of those… and now the rest are on my TBR list. Thanks…I think (LOL).
Do you have an enormous pile of unread books around your house, or do you prefer ebooks?
I can see why you settled on the title you did. Both “jackal” and “mistress” are eye-catching words which I think would be as important as what the title says about the book. I don’t know that a book called “Libby’s War” would attract my attention as much.
How about cover art? Do you get any say in that? I’d think that your wife would be a valuable resource in that regard, with her “artist’s eye.”