Interview with Emily Poule

Good morning, Emily and welcome to Coffee Time Romance. Please grab a seat in our cozy recliner, and be sure to get some delicious baked treats off the table. They are all calorie free. Karenne made sure to take all the fattening stuff out. Oh, and don’t forget to slip on the relaxing fuzzy pink slippers. The readers are very eager to learn more about Emily Poule.  

Tell us, Emily, if you were to invite some of the readers over to spend a day with you, how would it begin? 

I love this question because I love having guests and I love pampering my friends. I’m a coffee person, so I’d probably brew some coffee and make something special for breakfast…bagels and lox or a fancy goat cheese quiche. Hopefully, it would be summer time in Chicago, so we could have breakfast on my patio.  

I have a rather large dog and although he’s a pain in the butt, I love taking him to Olive Park to play with other dogs. It’s not really supposed to be a dog run, but everyone brings their dogs there. It also has a great view of the lake. Plus, there are a ton of cute guys there with their dogs. My dog is rather outgoing, so if my reader were single, we’d start our day making love connections. I’m an excellent matchmaker 😉 

Now, why don’t we spend time discussing your newest collection of books? The first one, Here for the Cake, and the second one, titled, Don’t Eat the Cake, where readers will return to Ella and Luke’s wedding while beginning to hear more about Salma. I believe there will also be a character named, Josie, that the readers will learn about, as well? 

You got it. All three books center around three best friends: Mina, Salma, and Josie. Here for the Cake follows scatter-brained academic Mina Joseph on her mission to win her ex-boyfriend, Luke (who incidentally is the groom) back from her childhood friend and foe, Ella Hutchinson. 

The second installment focuses on Salma, Luke’s older sister. Sweet, selfless Salma turns to the “dark side” in Don’t Eat the Cake when she is thrust into the Hutchinson circle and relies on a rough-around-the-edges photographer to sabotage the bridal party in her brother’s wedding.   

We’ll also see the beginning of a mystery that will unravel in Josie’s book…the third installment. 

At its heart, this series is all about taking chances and the finding love, be it romantic or platonic. Female friendships take center in these books because Josie, Salma, Mina, and even Ella, are part of each other’s past and future. It’s also full of witty banter and drunken escapades.  

After reading into a glimpse, of the second book, on your website, it sounds like another winner. Looking forward to it to be released. On any book you compose, how long does it normally take to compose it?  

Thanks for the vote of confidence! The first book took me 8 months to write. It was my first novel and I think the discipline of writing itself was a difficult adjustment. I started writing Don’t Eat the Cake recently and I’m hoping to beat my 8-month timeline by having it out by this fall. Hopefully, as I grow as a writer, my timeline will be between 4-5 months. My main concern is making something that I’m proud enough to publish. I owe it to my readers to offer them a novel that they will enjoy. It’s a good kind of pressure…I feel really grateful. 

Where did you get the premise to write this story? 

In college, I met this very pretty, very egocentric girl who knew exactly what she wanted – a husband who was also a doctor, a perfect wedding, a child, and access to acceptable forums for self-promotion like Facebook, Twitter, and BlogSpot. She was definitely a list girl, which wouldn’t have bothered me so much if she hadn’t been so judgmental of those of us that were still figuring it out.  There were times when I actually felt sorry for her because I assumed that she would never get all of the things that she wanted and it would crush her. After all, no one ever gets exactly what they want. I figured that she would eventually alienate other, more practical people and have to face reality like the rest of us. 

The joke was on me, because she got everything that she wanted. Her husband is a handsome physician; she has a beautiful baby girl; and she lives a cushy life in some beautiful east coast hamlet.

At 2 o’clock in the morning, while reading her family blog (where she recycles her now four-year-old wedding pictures by using different Instagram filters…), I realized that she was a writeable character. What was also writeable was my somewhat unwarranted resentment of her. Was I just a petty and pathetic human being or did she deserve my resentment?  I started free writing some ideas and after a few weeks, I had an outline for a book.  

Was it difficult to come up with the right characters for the stories, or did you already have them in mind? 

No, actually, that was the easiest part because people I know or, in some cases, love a great deal inspired these characters. In some sense, writing this book has been a way of paying homage to the people who have been great friends and supporters. Of course, as the story took flight, my characters changed and became their own people.  

What does your writing place look like? 

I’m a bit of a nomad. I get a little restless in one place all day. I have a desk by the window that I write at every morning and then I head out to coffee shops to do rewrites and revisions. I always “talk the dialogue” out when I’m writing so when I’m at coffee shops, most of the other patrons think I’m a lunatic. 

If you could meet three authors, past or present, what three authors would you love to spend a week with? 

I’m just going to say it….Maya Angelou would be on the top of my list. Based on her work and interviews, I feel like she would be the kind of female mentor all women crave. She is so soulful…truly an inspiration. Another would be Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I am such a huge fan of his work. I re-read 100 Years of Solitude every year for my birthday. Last but certainly not least, Roald Dahl. His novels informed my childhood…it would be an honor. 

Do you write on a schedule or as inspiration hits? 

Both. I contribute regularly to The Page Girls, an online mag where we publish a themed issue each week, containing anything from short stories to funny essays. The Page Girls keeps me writing on a schedule and that actually helps me structure my personal writing.  I find that the morning is a nice, peaceful time to write my own work so I try to get some hours in before the rest of the world wakes up. I’m new to this world so I’m working on my discipline. I recently read this book, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield….and it has really kicked my bum into gear. He compares the life of a writer to the life of a warrior and it’s just epic and grandiose enough to be inspiring. Writers struggling to find time or motivation should check it out. 

If you could travel anywhere in the world for a couple of weeks and vacation, where would you go?  

Australia! I’ve always wanted to go there. I feel like the sun and beach would do wonders to my productivity.  

Is there something in your refrigerator or kitchen cabinets that you must keep completely stocked on your shelves?

Ramen noodles! My guilty pleasure. A college roommate was making ramen one night and cracked an egg inside. She changed my life.  

Emily, is there anything else you would like to share with us? 

I just wanted to say thank you to Coffee time Romance for this interview. I love your site so much and as a new writer, I cannot tell you how great it feels to get featured.  

Thank you Emily for being with us today. I look forward to reading all your wonderful stories. Please get to know more about Emily and The Page Girls; they have a beautiful page where you can discover something new and fascinating every day.