Making 'Baby Grand,' the Novel

I attended a reading and book signing on Wednesday by Long Island thriller writer Jeb Ladouceur, who appeared at the Book Revue in Huntington. Jeb spoke about the writing process, read an except from his forthcoming book, Inked!, which will be published in 2012, and also signed copies of his latest book, The Oba Project.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jeb earlier this year when he appeared on my show, The Writer’s Dream, during which we had a lovely and informative chat about the writer’s life:

It was nice to see a sizable group of people turn out for Jeb’s reading. I’ve gone to quite a few of these things over the years, and I’m sad to say that attendance is typically low — with the exception of readings by celebrities or other high-profile folks which usually draw a crowd (my library recently had one of the “real housewives” come chat about her new cookbook and from what I hear it was standing room only).

As a writer, I think it’s important not only to support fellow writers, but to learn about other writers’ processes — sometimes what you hear can jumpstart or help you work through a particular block you may have in your writing or perhaps just broaden your understanding of writing in general. For instance, I found it interesting that Jeb never visited the towns or cities he wrote about in his books. He didn’t want the realities of those places to stifle his creativity in any way. I, on the other hand, took a road trip to Albany, New York, the setting for much of Baby Grand, while in I was in the throes of writing my first draft in order to get a feel for the place and make my descriptions more authentic.

Congratulations to Jeb for a successful event. I look forward to attending many, many more.

Jeb Ladouceur and me at Book Revue/Photo by Debbie Lange Fifer