coffee chat with erika montgomery

The beauty of social media is that you connect with writers across the country and the world. Imagine my excitement when I discovered that a favorite author was moving not far from where I lived! What started out as an online friendship has now become an in-real life friendship. Every time Erika Montgomery and I get together (which, admittedly, isn't nearly enough) our conversations bounce around to everything from writing, publishing, books we're reading, sushi, coffee, family, and wine (not necessarily in that order).

Over the last couple of years, Erika and I have commiserated over the progress (or lack of) manuscripts. She even got on zoom with me after I sent a text SOS earlier this year during a self-confidence fail over the book I was working on. 

And I'm so, SO excited that the story she'd been writing and rewriting will be releasing to the world on DATE. 

Even though we haven't been able to do an in-person chat this year, we've had our zoom calls and Erika very graciously agreed to this virtual coffee chat ... 

​If we were at a coffee shop, what would you order?
A medium regular coffee (is that even a thing, LOL?!) I am so old school. I might splurge on a pastry, though. Or one of those cookies that are the size of a salad plate!
 
At home, do you have one go-to mug or do you pick by mood or whatever is within reach?
Oh Orly, it’s like you know me or something😉! I am ridiculously ritualistic (You know, I’ve heard writers can be that way—have you heard that too?) about far too many things in my day but mugs are at the top of that list. No joke, I have a weekday writing mug, I have a weekend mug, I have an afternoon once-in-a-while mug. My writing mug is a Christmas mug that is so faded I think only I can discern the smiling snowman. I also have a beloved Dolly Parton mug from my sister that is my editing mug and if I know I’m going to rework the previous day’s pages, I’ll likely pour into that. Even when I travel (Travel? What’s that again?), if we’re staying at a rented house, I tend to pick A MUG from the collection and use it all week. 
 
Still glad you asked?
 
As a writer, I’m obsessed with writing process. I love hearing how others work their magic. What’s your process like? Do you have certain routines/rituals?
I am fortunate to teach creative writing to a great group of high school seniors and one of the things I am constantly talking about is process—and how incredibly unique and personal every writer’s process is—so YES, I love to unpack this subject too! That said, I think I’ve struggled to be at peace with my own writing process after so many years because the more I write, the longer the process seems to take for me—which, on some level seems inefficient (that word comes up a lot for me when I write/edit) but honestly, I’ve had to retrain my brain not to see it that way. I worked in carpentry and construction for a while and I think that experience really cemented in me this concept that you want to really refine your process, whatever it is, be it cutting a length of board or loading up a truck bed, and how can you do it in the least amount of steps and secure accurate results (measure twice, cut once) and this implication that if something takes longer, it isn’t as efficient as it could/should be. But after so many years of writing, I’ve come to realize that my writing takes longer because I’m more aware than ever of what I need to do to make it richer/more layered/textured/etc so in that way, the idea of efficiency is irrelevant. 
 
That said, however, deadlines are deadlines! So there has to be SOME measure of efficiency in there somewhere.

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I’m ridiculously excited about the release of A SUMMER TO REMEMBER on May 11! What was the idea (coffee bean? ) that triggered this story? 
Thank you for saying that! A SUMMER TO REMEMBER went through SO many iterations—as you well know, Orly, manuscripts always do, right?—but because I worked on this one for so long—and went through many significant life changes in the midst of writing it—it’s almost impossible for me to remember what it looked like when I first got the idea to start writing.

I do remember, however, that there was always a sealed letter that needed to be delivered somewhere far away, and the desire to bring my love for Hollywood and cinema into a story. 
 
Let’s talk beach books (and not just because I’m sitting here freezing and dreaming about a vacation). This label always fascinates me because pretty much every list I’ve come across has a completely different make-up of books. To you, what is the perfect beach read (other than A SUMMER TO REMEMBER, obviously)?
Such a good question! I love beach books that have a character coming to the beach for a brief time—I think there’s an added level of escape and decadence built in to that set-up. I love scenes of food and drink and general merriment. A romance is also a must. And a fabulous house to anchor it all is the icing on the cake—preferably an old beach cottage, the more rustic the better.
 
Can you give us a hint about what you’re working on next?
It’s still fairly early in the manuscript but I CAN tell you it takes place on the coast—I know, you’re shocked, right?—and follows the summer adventures of some pretty fabulous women through two time periods.
 
Back to the coffee shop. Do you eavesdrop on folks at neighboring tables or tune everyone out?
I’m a hopeless eavesdropper. And it’s not always intentional, I swear. I consider myself a hyper-aware/observant person—I can’t NOT be hearing/watching action around me. I think that’s why I can’t write in coffee shops—I can’t tune things out! 
 
Finally, tell me something about yourself that will make the people at the next table scoot closer to hear better … or maybe scoot further away. 😉
Ha ha—too late!! I’m pretty sure my answer to the mug question has already done the latter! ​

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Where to find Erika and pre-order a copy A SUMMER TO REMEMBER ... 

www.erikamontgomery.com

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