How lucky are we to be in Chicago where there are so many literary stars!

Last week novelist and School of the Art Institute instructor Carol Anshaw paid a visit to our Novelists Roundtable and frankly, we’re all better for it.

Carol has three novels to her name and another one sitting on her publisher’s desk. You can read them all yourself, although I’ll tell you right now, Lucky in the Corner is my personal favorite.

That night the Roundtable was discussing “Characters falling flat” and it was a wonderful venting, grieving and hoping kind of night. We shared war stories of characters who no longer seemed to have a place in our novels or characters we just loved and adored, but we weren’t quite sure what they were doing in the story.

Carol was a bit quiet at first, getting the lay of the land I imagine. But once she joined in the conversation, every time she spoke I felt like hitting my forehead and screaming, “why didn’t I think of that!”

For me, the most inspiring part of the discussion came at the end when I cornered her into reading a passage from her to-be-published novel and then peppered her with questions about who she reads and how she writes.

Now we all know those famous authors who are close-mouthed and secretive about their process and ideas, even when talking with students. But Carol was so forthcoming and open about her approach, what she likes and doesn’t like, and that writing doesn’t come as easily to her as painting (who knew she was a painter too!), and for those moments, the frustration I had with my own characters melted as I was clearly reminded that writing is hard work, but it’s still the only kind of work I want to do.

(Who would you like to see visit the studio?)