Meet: Eliza Watson
- fordandwright
- Sep 20, 2018
- 4 min read
In the middle of August, Eliza Watson, author of The Travel Mishaps of Caity Shaw series, became a USA Today bestselling author; after writing for 18 years, she decided it was time to go for it. In addition to women’s fiction, she writes young adult and romance. She lives in Wisconsin with hubby Mark and cats Frankie and Sammy. When she's not writing, Eliza travels about 100 days a year for her job as an event planner. She's also a genealogist, having traced her family’s ancestry and helping numerous friends trace their roots.
Eliza can sing the words to every commercial jingle from the 1980s. She said, "I obviously watched a lot more TV back then."
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Here are a few words of advice to my younger, unpublished self:
Don’t take no for an answer. Don’t get disheartened and stop querying agents after only 20 rejections. Seriously. If I told you how many agents and editors you’ll have to query before you sell, you might freak out and quit right now.
Get feedback on your book. If you can’t find a critique partner, ask a local book club or a library’s advisory board if they’ll read it. A library’s teen ad board will prove very helpful with one of your young adult books. However you do it, get feedback.
Make sure your book has a strong hook. Write the query letter before you write the book so you know you can pitch it to an agent or editor. With all the thousands of books out there, having a strong hook is critical so that your book stands out. Believe me, it’ll be much easier to have a hook on the front end than to try to add one once the book is done. Been there, done that.
Learn to be patient and consider taking up yoga or meditation. I know you can’t ride an escalator without walking up or down it, but you’ll learn to. Be patient. This industry is a waiting game.
Good news is you’re going to be a published author! So hang in there future published author and don’t ever give up!
How did you become an author?
In 1999, I attended a Romance Writers of America conference in Chicago with my sister Penny, who was a finalist in the organization’s writing contest. I met some wonderful women and loved the camaraderie they shared. My sister and her friends encouraged me to write about my often humorous, and a bit crazy, experiences as an event planner. I was frustrated with airline travel at the time, so I began writing my first book about a motivational speaker, who revamps an airline. I found it quite therapeutic. And so the journey began.
Which author do you aspire to be like?
My favorite series is Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. I admire her for not following the writing “rules” and being true to her voice. She created very likeable and fun characters. I met her at a writers’ conference and have a picture of us on my website.
Where do you find inspiration for your books and your characters?
My Caity Shaw series is my memoir. Just kidding. I never write about actual real-life experiences. However, when my friends and family read the series they’ll discover that, despite the travel, my event planner job isn’t so “glamorous.” I no longer do the planning part and only execute events same as Caity’s job. I’ve been in the industry for twenty years and no matter how well you organize an event, once you are onsite, you have to be able to troubleshoot issues and think on your feet.
If you couldn’t earn money from writing, would you still write? If not, what else would you do?
I don’t yet earn a living from writing, so I still work as an event planner. If I could make enough money being a genealogist, I would do it in a heartbeat. I’m obsessed with Ancestry.com. I used to be on the website until 2 a.m., no exaggeration. I’ve been researching my Irish and Scottish ancestors since visiting Ireland in 2007 with my parents and cousin. The only thing we knew about my mom’s ancestry was the town where her great-grandfather was raised. We visited there and found his brother’s grave. I said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be nice to come back here and visit some living relatives?” So I went home and subscribed to Ancestry.com.
At times, it’s been a very frustrating endeavor. I’ve encountered a lot of roadblocks, but it’s been well worth the effort. I’ve tracked down numerous rellies in Ireland and incorporated my experiences into my Caity Shaw series.
If you could hang out with any author for the night, who would it be?
Lawrence Sanders, who passed away in 1998. During college, I studied so much that I rarely read for fun. After graduating, I mentioned to my now husband how much I missed reading and he recommended the McNally series by Lawrence Sanders. I laughed through the first book then devoured every book in the amateur sleuth series. So I’d like to take Lawrence Sanders out to dinner and thank him for enabling me to rediscover my love for reading, which ultimately led me to becoming a writer.
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