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Bestselling Author Melissa Senate Rob Holden: Melissa Senate, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you with us here this evening. Melissa Senate: Thanks! I'm very happy to be here! Rob Holden: I would like to start this off with your latest novel, Whose Wedding is it Anyway. Could you tell our readers a bit about it? Melissa Senate: The novel is about the pressures of planning the perfect wedding--pressures from friends, relatives ... but most of all yourself. Rob Holden: Could you tell us some of the storyline? Melissa Senate: The main character, Eloise, is engaged to a great guy, yet has cold feet... then, she's offered a free dream wedding by the wedding magazine she works for if she'll appear as "today's modern bride" in a feature pictorial in the magazine allowing the advertisers to choose everything for her wedding--the gown, honeymoon, rings, everything. She'll receive a free $100,000 wedding. Problem is, she HATES everything that's chosen for her. And, she has to produce her family for photo shoots for the magazine, but she's estranged from her father and brother. And so she has to face some tough truths about herself and her family before she can decide what's best for herself and her future. Natalie R. Collins: Melissa, this book was picked to be featured in Marie Claire magazine. Can you tell us more about that? Melissa Senate: I'm thrilled about this. The book appears in the January issue of Marie Claire as a Top Ten pick for what to read, and it received a wonderful review. An added bonus! Natalie R. Collins: That's wonderful! Let's go back a bit to your second book, The Solomon Sisters Wise Up. Can you tell us a little about this book? Melissa Senate: Solomon Sisters is about three sisters who don't get along, but end up moving back in with their divorced father when all of their lives turn upside down.

Natalie R. Collins: This book, I believe, was also well received in the reviewing community.

Melissa Senate: Yes, I was so happy with the reviews on that book!

Natalie R. Collins: And of course, we need to discuss your first book, See Jane Date, which launched Harlequin's Red Dress Ink. Can you summarize the plot of that one for us?

Melissa Senate: See Jane Date is about a woman's attempt to avoid a blind date. She doesn't want to be set up with a date for her cousin's posh wedding so she tells a fib to her family, that she has a great boyfriend already, and then she must actually produce said boyfriend. So she goes on a blind dating spree to find Mr. Perfect . . . and it's tough stuff!

Natalie R. Collins: So, tell us a bit about the pressures of being a launch book for a new line. Did you have a lot of misgivings and times of sheer panic?

Melissa Senate: Actually, none at all! No one had any idea whether or not Red Dress Ink would be successful or not. Harlequin has launched many new lines and imprints, so we all just hoped for the best. And it turned out to be a smash success! It was wonderful to be part of something that was an instant hit with readers.

Natalie R. Collins: Did it help to have some experience working as an editor? I believe you were a Harlequin Editor, correct?

Melissa Senate: Yes, I worked as an editor at Harlequin for ten years, specifically at Silhouette as a senior editor of the Silhouette Desire line. It helped and didn't help! I knew too much and too little, if that makes any sense. I thought I understood how editors think, but I only understood from the editor's perspective. Now, I know how authors think, and it's an entirely different thing!

Rob Holden: Melissa, you are known as a "ChickLit" Author -- and there are some people working in that sub-genre who take offense at being described that way. How do you feel about it, and the sub-genre in general?

Melissa Senate: I don't take offense. To me, it's a marketing label. It's limiting, yes, but there are strengths in "branding" as well.

Natalie R. Collins: And you are in good company, with names like Jennifer Weiner.

Melissa Senate: I LOVE Jennifer Weiner's books.

Natalie R. Collins: Carol Matthews, etc. Me, too. Very big fan of Jennifer.

Melissa Senate: I just finished reading her latest. I wouldn't really call Little Earthquakes a chick lit book.

Natalie R. Collins: I haven't read it yet.

Melissa Senate: I think it's just a novel. I wouldn't even label it as women's fiction. I really think it stands alone. I love Carol Matthews books too.

Rob Holden: To follow up my last question, do you find the designation to be limiting as far as your career is concerned to this point?

Melissa Senate: Definitely not! Red Dress Ink doesn't limit its authors. I have the freedom to write any type of book I want, as long as it's appealing to women. Right now, I'm writing my fourth book for RDI, about four main characters, including a male POV.

Natalie R. Collins: Sounds interesting.

Melissa Senate: I'm experimenting more with structure than I ever have. And I can feel myself reaching farther growing as a writer, etc. Chick Lit really only means that it's marketed to women As long as I write books that will appeal to women, I can write whatever I want. There's such freedom in that. I can try a mystery next, I can try a more literary approach, I can try a funnier approach.

Natalie R. Collins: Do you find writing a trade paperback, instead of hardback, also makes your chances of reaching the audience better?

Melissa Senate: Well, there's definitely cache in hardback, but trade paperbacks are much more affordable and have begun earning the review power that hardbacks have always enjoyed. I'd love to have a hardcover one day. It would have to be the right book.

Natalie R. Collins: And trade paperbacks are better quality than mass market books.

Melissa Senate: Nope. They're just bigger!

Natalie R. Collins: Oh really? What is the justification behind them, then?

Melissa Senate: Of trade?

Natalie R. Collins: Yes.

Melissa Senate: That they "seem" more literary, so they can be priced higher, etc.

Natalie R. Collins:I see. You learn something new every day!

Melissa Senate: Sometimes it's all about how books are perceived by consumers.

. Natalie R. Collins: Melissa, since we announced this chat, we have had some questions sent to us. Can you answer those now?

Melissa Senate: Sure!

Rob Holden: Paula M. Bangor -- I read that you spent most of your life in New York City, but have recently moved to rural Maine. That is quite a change! How are you adjusting to it?

Melissa Senate: I love Maine! But I do miss NYC. Honestly, I feel like I belong in NYC, but I feel like my two-year-old belongs here, living in the woods, having all this space to run around, the fresh air, the outdoors. If it were just me, I'd be living in NYC! The good news is that all this quiet is conducive to writing!

Rob Holden: Claire T. Port Washington --I have seen the movie version of See Jane Date several times (Charisma Carpenter is just WONDERFUL)! Did you have anything to do with the script, or the production and how do you feel about the movie?

Melissa Senate: I had absolutely nothing to do with the movie, but I loved it! I loved Charisma's performance. I thought she was so natural, and I can't picture Jane without her face and mannerisms. I've seen the movie seven times and every time, I love it more!

Rob Holden: Carol, Tucson -- What current writers do you read, which have influenced your work, and who would you recommend?

Melissa Senate: My favorite writers at the moment are: Pam Houston (I can't wait for her new novel!) and Jennifer Weiner and Sarah Mlynowski and Sophie Kinsella and Lorrie Moore and Elinor Lipman. I read every day, but right now, I'm in an Elinor Lipman and Jill McCorkle phase! I have both of their piles on my bedside table. I've been influenced by everyone I've ever read, I think! Most especially Judy Blume.

Natalie R. Collins: Oh I love Judy Blume.

Melissa Senate: The first book I ever loved was Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Natalie R. Collins: Me, too!

Melissa Senate: I stick that line in every novel I write, depending on the character's name. "Are You There, God? It's me, Eloise..."

Rob Holden: Davina P., New Rochelle: My 12 year old daughter Brandy wants to know if you are the Melissa Senate who wrote the latest Olsen Twins book with them and, if so, what was it/they like?

Melissa Senate: Yes! I used to work as an editor on one of the Olsen twins' series, and then was asked if I'd be interested in writing one of their Sweet Sixteen novels. I was nervous because this series is about them as THEM, as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, not as fictional characters like their other series, so I had to be very careful with characterization. It was a bit limiting in that regard but fun!

Natalie R. Collins: Sounds like it! And our last reader's question.

Rob Holden: May J. London -- I have read that you will shortly be publishing book for Young Adults. I am wondering when it will be out, and if you know when it will be available in the UK.

Melissa Senate: My YA novel will be published in May 2006--so far away! I don't have a title yet, but keep checking my website; my editor and I will be having a "titles" meeting soon. I do hope it will be available in the UK!

Rob Holden: Thanks for answering those. Tell us a bit about moving into the YA market, if you would. What made you make that move?

Melissa Senate: An editor called and asked if I'd be interested in writing "chick lit jr." I said yes! My YA is very similar in tone and voice to my Red Dress Ink novels, but set in high school. I had a great time writing it, and I'm under contract for another. I'd love to do both, adult and YA.

Natalie R. Collins: So, you have a lot on your plate. Can you tell us what else you are working on now?

Melissa Senate: I'm just about finished with my fourth novel for Red Dress Ink. The title is The Breakup Club. It's about four coworkers who don't have much in common except for their smashed hearts. They end up talking a lot about themselves instead of working! I'm so awful at describing my own work! I always have a hard time condensing the plot. I think this is my most ambitious novel.

Natalie R. Collins: Melissa, our readers who are also writers always ask about writing schedules. Can you tell us a bit about yours?

Melissa Senate: I've been trying to figure out my best schedule for three years, since I've started writing, and I still don't know! I wrote my first book while working full-time. I wrote in the morning before work and then all night and on weekends. For my second book, I wrote it during the first six months of my son's life! For my third, I was writing full-time with a babysitter, from 9am to 3pm every day. It doesn't suit me at all to write at certain times. Probably wouldn't suit most writers. I'd love to write when I felt the creative push, when all the plot-problem-solving in my head lures me to the computer, but that rarely happens when it's work time! I'd like to write from 6 am to 9am, but my son likes to wake up and play during those hours. I know I work best with a very fresh brain!

Rob Holden: So, what is next for Melissa Senate?

Melissa Senate: Well, my fourth book will be published in January 2006 (The Breakup Club), and then my YA novel in May 2006, and then I'll have two more Red Dress Ink books in 2007 and 2008 and one more YA in 2007. That's what I'm contracted for now. Lots!

Rob Holden: And your fans can find out the latest at your website -- www.melissasenate.com ?

Melissa Senate: Yes, thanks! I've started a blog too.

Rob Holden: Finally, Melissa, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?

Melissa Senate: I'd like to say a very big thank you for your support! I receive so many emails from readers who've said the nicest things, and when I'm writing, I'm always thinking about my readers. Thanks so much for reading and enjoying my work!

Rob Holden: Melissa Senate, thank you for joining us this evening, and best of luck with all your future projects!

Melissa Senate: Thanks so much for having me!




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