Interview with Lynn Schnurnberger

For those who know me well, it’s no surprise that my Christmas card arrives first each and every year. My closets could easily pass inspection from Martha Stewart and on most days, you could literally eat off of my kitchen floor. As a Type A personality, I thrive on order and structure; however, sometimes my best laid plans don’t always work out as expected. Case in point…my two hip replacements were not penciled in on my agenda but somehow they both managed to make it to the top of the list.

This month’s Jen’s Jewels Lynn Schnurnberger knows exactly what I am talking about when it comes to making room for Plan B. In her latest release THE BEST LAID PLANS, Upper East Side mom Tru Newman has to come up with her own new plan when her investment banker husband loses his job and finds himself up to his eyeballs in debt. As any smart, savvy New Yorker would do, Tru comes up with a scheme that would make even the toughest of Wall Street tycoons green with envy. Laugh-out-loud funny, this book is the perfect read to kick off the New Year.

As part of this interview, Ballantine Books has generously donated five copies for you, my favorite readers, to win. So, don’t forget to check for the trivia question at the end. And, thanks for making Jen’s Jewels a part of your 2011 reading adventure.

Jen: Your career has run the gamut in terms of your artistic ventures…from being a painter to an accomplished writer. So that my readers may have a glimpse into the life of a very talented woman such as yourself, please share with us your educational and professional background.

Lynn: I was one of those kids who wasn’t too good at making friends, but the upside, was that I spent a lot of time in my room, writing and drawing pictures. When I was sixteen, I wrote the lyrics to some songs my sister had composed the music for, and as a way of creating a social activity, I asked some friends to be in a play. We performed the play at a community center; a newspaper columnist got wind of what we were doing and wrote about the production; and a producer offered us his Off-Broadway theater to perform in for the summer--it was a pretty fantastical start! So fantastical, that I didn’t know how to follow it. So instead of writing another play--or anything else for that matter-- I became an art major. When I started writing for magazines, I didn’t have any formal training, but I did have all of those years of having been in my room writing stories to fall back on.

Jen: Touching upon your art career, describe for us your entry into this fascinating world. And, what was the most challenging part of making your way among such accomplished individuals?

Lynn: After I graduated college I decided to get a job in a gallery and I went knocking on doors--on a Monday (the day in New York that galleries are traditionally closed. It shows you how little I knew!) But luckily, one gallery was open, and they hired me as a part-time “Girl Friday”-- filing, making coffee, and greeting people at the front door. From there I went on to work at another gallery, and another and along the way I met a lot of artists whose work I admired, like Chuck Close and Louise Nevelson. And, finally, I met a gallery owner who was willing to give me my first show.

Jen: As for your writing, please share with us your “Aha!” moment when you knew you wanted to pursue a career in writing.

Lynn: This is going to sound weird, because most people think of writers as being isolated. But having been a painter--where I really did work all by myself for days and months at a time--I felt pretty giddy at the idea of becoming a journalist. It was entrée into a world where I could meet people (or at least call them up) for interviews.

Jen: Having authored and co-authored five books, you have established yourself as a contender on the literary front. In terms of nuts and bolts, which is more taxing...writing solo or with a partner? And, how so?

Lynn: It was great fun to write the first books with a partner. Janice had written novels before and she taught me how to “stretch” out a story--that characters had to stop to have coffee, or consider what they were going to wear that day--having come from magazine writing, I was used to trying to condense everything. It was also, of course, fun to have someone to chat about the story with, to talk over the plotlines. And we always said that we were nicer to each other than we sometimes were to our husbands--because we were on a deadline, and if we had a squabble, we had to quickly resolve it and get back to work. All of that being said, it’s been enormously gratifying to write THE BEST LAID PLANS solo, to flex my muscles and fly in whatever direction I wanted to.

Jen: Your latest endeavor THE BEST LAID PLANS is the perfect read to kick off the New Year. How did you arrive at the premise?

Lynn: Thanks, Jen, I’m so glad you liked it! I wanted to write a story about what happens when, due to circumstances, a woman who’s been reveling in her life, is forced to change course. First I invented an acronym, calling the contentedly stay-at-home heroine Tru Newman an “M&M (an Upper East Side New Yorker into “Maintenance and Mothering.”) I gave her an overprotective husband and an over-bearing mother a best friend who’s a local TV anchor and two teenage twin girls, who she’s obviously done a wonderful job raising (but who, like all kids, have their moments.)

I started writing the book before the stock market fiasco--in the original plot, only Tru and her family was on the brink of financial ruin. Then as the economy tumbled, the story became much more universal.

Jen: The story centers on the life of Tru and Peter Newman, your typical Upper East Side family, who find themselves embroiled in a financial nightmare when the husband, Peter, loses his job. First of all, why does Peter wait three months before he tells his wife the news?

Lynn: Peter and Tru were college sweethearts, and Peter’s always “taken care” of Tru. His efforts to protect her are misguided, not malevolent. Still, it sends shock waves through their marriage.

Jen: Tacking onto the last question, why does Tru rather calmly accept his decision to keep it from her? Is it not a form of betrayal?

Lynn: Tru accepts it calmly, on the outside anyway, because every marriage has a pact, roles that we agree to play with each other whether conscious or not. And Tru’s the peacemaker in the family. But Peter’s deceit does undercut their relationship. Tru wonders what other secrets Peter has. (Especially when he goes into the cosmetics business with the buxom blonde Tiffany Glass.) And when Tru opens the escort agency she keeps it a secret from Peter--a little tit for tat.

Jen: Having lost the luxurious world in which she had been accustomed to living, Tru takes matters into her own hands. First of all, let’s talk about her best friend and hilarious sidekick Sienna. What makes these two women such kindred spirits? And, who is the stronger character and why?

Lynn: Sienna Post is a strong, independent woman, an anchor on the local news. Sienna and Tru met in Middle School, when Tru was an awkward mess and she took Tru under her wing. So both Tru and Sienna might say that Sienna was “stronger.” But Sienna’s personal life is a shambles. And in the end, as in all good friendships--and marriages-- the power shifts between the two of them--they’re able to support and be there for the other as needed.

Jen: Being forty-something myself, I can relate to Sienna and Lynn’s plight of having to re-invent themselves at that age. It’s an undertaking to say the least! When the idea comes about to start a courtesan agency, if you will, is it the sheer naughtiness of the idea or the exuberant excitement that makes them jump in feet first?

Lynn: It is kind of naughty, isn’t it? And exuberance is a good word, Jen--Tru and Sienna are entering totally uncharted territory, and taking control of their lives. They even have a good feminist argument to back up their decision to open the agency. Coco Chanel, Madame de Pompadour, Sarah Bernhardt, all of them were paid by men for the pleasure of their company. “Have you ever thought about all of the men who could have helped us whom we didn’t sleep with because we were too high and mighty to trade sex for power?” Tru asks. “And then, have you ever thought about the guys we did sleep with who didn’t give us anything--and ended up being jerks anyway?”

Of course Tru’s been married for over twenty years; Peter was her one and only beau. And Sienna and Tru are hiring women to be escorts; they’re not sleeping with the men themselves. When I was reading about the Eliot Spitzer call girl scandal, it was very interesting to me that the people, who arranged for the escorts, were “regular” folk--an accountant and a nutritionist who needed money and were looking for entrepreneurial opportunities. Just like Sienna and Tru.

Jen: The third party involved in this scheme is Bill, Sienna’s younger beau. What makes him willing to risk his law career in order to start up this risky business?

Lynn: Well, as Bill explains, there’s nothing illegal about setting up girls on dates, and he thinks he’s got his bases covered by limiting the men to only people he knows. But mostly, he’s just nuts about Sienna. By nature, Bill’s not emotional; he’s never felt this way before. It makes him want to take risks--with Sienna, the business, he’s feeling carefree for the first time in his life.

Jen: Not surprisingly, Tru chooses to keep her business enterprise a secret from Peter. Do two wrongs make a right? Is she simply getting back at him, or does she doubt her own ability to make the Veronica Agency a success?

Lynn: For Tru, who’s always lived in her husband’s--and her mother’s shadow--it’s kind of delicious to have this secret world, one where she’s not known as “Peter wife” or “Paige and Molly’s mother.” And yes, she’s probably holding some stamps against Peter for having kept a secret from her.

Jen: Throughout the story, emotional as well as humorous scenes involving Tru and her mother Naomi are interspersed into the plot which shows how a mother-daughter relationship can truly evolve over time. How would Tru sum up their relationship?

Lynn: Tru would say that Naomi was a pain-in-the-butt. And that she loves her. And that she’s grateful in the end that she and Naomi come to appreciate each other. Naomi basks in disappointment; she’s always looking over her shoulder at what might have been. Which, taught Tru pretty early on what she didn’t want to be like. So in a way, even before their reconciliation, Naomi was a great anti-role model-- it was by seeing Naomi, that Tru knew she wanted her life to be 180degrees different.

Jen: Let’s switch gears now and talk about your promotional plans. Do you participate in author phone chats? And if so, how would my readers go about scheduling one?

Lynn: I love talking to book groups, please go to my website and let me know you’d like to chat!

Jen: Do you have a website? Are you on Facebook? Twitter?

Lynn: Website, Facebook…two out of three.

Jen: Are you currently at work on your next project? If so, what are you able to share with us?

Lynn: My next project is “marinating”-- I’m always afraid that if I talk about new ideas and plots too much I’ll have said everything I have to say about it before I’ve written anything. So yes, something’s coming….stay tuned!

Jen: Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and chat with my readers. I loved your book. Bravo! Best of luck in 2011!

Lynn: Thank you Jen! It’s always so much fun to look at your site and see what books you’ve recommended. I’m thrilled to be one of the authors you chose to interview!

I hope you have enjoyed my first interview of 2011! Please stop by your favorite bookstore or local library branch and pick up a copy of THE BEST LAID PLANS today. Better yet, how would you like to win one instead?

Okay, be one of the first five readers answer with the correct answer to the following trivia question and you could win!

What is the name of Tru Newman’s best friend?

Later this month, I will be bringing to you my interview with Jill Patton Walsh, author of the upcoming release THE ATTENBURY EMERALDS. You won’t want to miss it!

Happy New Year!

Jen