Anita Notaro October 17th 2005

[catherine daly]

Hi All, Anita Notaro will be on-line from 8pm irish time to answer your questions.

Anita Notaro worked as a producer/director in RTE for seventeen years. During that time she worked with Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, Gerry Ryan, Dave Fanning, Miriam O’Callaghan and produced such shows as The Late Late Show, Prime Time, The Eurovision Song Contest and the 1997 General Election.

Her first two books BACK AFTER THE BREAK and BEHIND THE SCENES both made the bestseller list and her new book THE WWW CLUB has just been published in Ireland and the UK and recently sold to HARPER COLLINS, New York. It’s based around the Women Watching Weight Club, a group of twenty, thirty and forty something women who are desperate to lose weight and sort out their lives!

It’s been described in the States as Sex and The City meets Desperate Housewives.

If you can't make it on the night- post your questions below and Anita will answer as many as possible on the night.

[Shirley]

Hi Anita,
I was at the Reader's Day and I heard you speaking about writing, but maybe you could post a little bit for the other members about how you first got published and what spurred you into writing?
Thanks,
Shirley

[Shirley]

Also, can you tell us about your writing day? Do you put aside a certain time of day to write? How disciplined are you about writing every single day - do you find that you write in bursts at the weekends when you might have more time, for example, or do you try to write a certain number of words per day?

[susanmay]

Hi Anita

Is your preference more in television producing/directing or book writing?

Which RTE show/presenter did you enjoy working on/with the most?

Sorry about all the questions!

Best wishes

Susan

[tatty]

Sorry i cant be here tonight,

Hi Anita, where did the inspiration for 'the WWW club' come from?

Good luck with your novels x

[SarahW]

Hi Anita,
If I don't make it on later, have fun.
I wanted to ask you what you're working on now - and also do you still work for/in RTE or are you writing full time now?
Best,
Sarah XXX

[anitanotaro1]

Hi Susan, I did love my TV work, but now my heart is absolutely in writing. I feel so lucky. Book 3 on the shelves, imagine. It still gives me such a thrill.
Presenters I liked working with, well Gerry Ryan made me laugh all the time, Gay Byrne taught me most, Pat Kenny was very professional but Dave Fanning has become a friend. We had great times together and travelled the world inerviewing rock stars and actors. Oh, and I really liked working with Liz Bonnin - we had some good times too.

[catherine daly]

Hi Anita, And Welcome!!

Hope you're settling in to the board and having fun!
I was jjust wondering do yo always have an idea for your next book before you finish the last, or do you have to put the first 'to bed' so to speak before you can really get moving on a new one?

[anitanotaro1]

Hi Sarah, thanks for leaving a message. My last job in RTE was directing Fair City - with that other great writer Claudia Carroll, who plays Nicola. I did some work for No Frontiers as well, Diarmuid Gavin and I travelled to that very exotic location - Birr, Co. Offaly. Only joking, Birr is fantastic, but it did rain all the time we were there. I was asked to go to Japan this month, but had to say no because of The WWW CLUB. Anita x

[anitanotaro1]

Hi Emma. The inspiration for The WWW Club came from all my friends. It was January 2004 and everyone was broke and on a diet. Money, men and mouth-watering goodies seemed to be all we talked about. We weren't very successful, so I decided it would be fun to start a ficticious club - where you had to know somebody to join - on the basis that only your friends will tell you the truth!!! The girls decided to call it the WWW Club because they were always surfing the net and decided that WWW must stand for Women Watching Weight. So, that's how it all started.

[anitanotaro1]

Hi Catherine, Don't I wish I had an idea for the next book. I'm always struggling!! Sometimes, I start and it just doesn't flow. Book 4, which I'm working on at the moment, is only now taking off and when that happens it's great, as I'm sure you know. I love talking to other writers because I think it's the same for everyone who's trying to get something finished. Mostly, I just slog away at it! Anita x

[Mary]

Hi Anita,
Sorry I'm a bit late - hope you're enjoying the interview?
You've pretty much answered the question I was going to ask.
Do you find it takes long to get 'stuck into' a new novel. I'm at this stage at the mo, and would love to jump 100 pages into the nitty, gritty of the story. do you feel like this or any tips to get things speeded up a bit?
As you know, I've loved all of your books,
thanks,
Mary.

[anitanotaro1]

Hi Shirley, I was very lucky in how I got published. Basically, the story starts with Patricia Scanlan. I was one of the producers on the live, 24 hour broadcast on RTE on Millennium Eve. I had just made ANOTHER New Year's Resolution to WRITE THAT BOOK. Patricia was a guest in the afternoon. We'd never met, but I went up to her and asked if I could give her a rub for luck!! We had a great laugh and she told me that there is no magic formula and advised me to sit down, type CHAPTER 1 and see what happens. As she was leaving, she wished me luck and said 'By the way, I'll launch your first book for you.' I laughed, thanked her but still never thought I'd do it. Eighteen months later, in Summer 2000, I left a message on her answering machine, asking for advice. I'd written three chapters. She rang me back and suggested I send it to her publisher. This was brave of her because she hadn't read a word! I sent it off to the UK, not even expecting to get a reply. I went off on holiday and when I came back there was a message on my machine from Francesca, who's now my editor. She asked if I had any more chapters. I exagerated slightly!!!! and told her I had the next three almost finished. I sent them off a couple of weeks later and I was in Hughes and Hughes in Blackrock about a month after that, sneaking a look at Patricia's latest book, when my mobile rang. It was Francesca, offering me a three book deal. My screams could be heard in O'Connell St!!
Then my friend Ursula Courtney asked me to meet a new agent who was just starting up - Marianne Gunn O'Connor! We hit it off immediately and she negotiated the deal on my behalf. Needless to say, it was a dream come true.
With regard to my writing day, I try to work all day, Monday to Friday. It doesn't always happen! At the start of a book, I write very little in one sitting, because I'm still getting to know my characters. As the story moves, I do more and more. I always seem to reach a point in the story when it flies, and Patricia Scanlan says that's the best bit. After that, I work night and day, dying to finish it. Thanks for asking. A xxx

[anitanotaro1]

Hey there Mary. You might remember at the recent library day - one of the writers - was it Jacinta McDevitt? or Marita Conlon-McKenna? who said that you don't have to write in sequence. I think it was Marita. I've never tried it that way, but maybe you should jump on 100 pages and see what happens. You've nothing to lose. Mostly, I try and work through the horrible periods when it all seems a struggle and amazingly, usually something comes! Maeve Binchy said in an interview recently that she never waits for the muse to strike - and look at her. I'm really looking forward to reading your first novel in February. I'll be in the shops on the day of publication!!!! Anita x

[anitanotaro1]

Mary, Forgot to say - everyone feel like you do. We all get stuck. Patricia Scanlan lights a candle and asks her angel for help. Isn't that a nice idea? Also, keep thinking about how you're going to feel when you type THE END!!!!! Axx

[Mary]

Thanks, Anita,
jumping ahead sounds too much like my 'real life' - I'd better stick it out and follow the advice of getting to know the characters. I'm easily distracted - kettle and biscuits! - but will think of all the other Irish girls going through the same process and keep going.
thanks for your honesty and your wishes,
I can't wait,
talk again soon, Mary.

[Judi Curtin]

Hi Anita,
By the time I get to proof-reading my novels, I absolutely hate every single word, and wonder if it's too late to tell my publishers that I want to go back to the drawing board. Does that happen to you?
Thanks
Judi

[megan]

HI Anita,

It was really interesting to read about all the work you've done in television. It sounds fascinating! I have a friend who is very interested in working in TV. She has taken a sabatical from work for a year and is doing a course in TV and Radio production in Maynooth this year. She is also working in 98FM on a voluntary basis to get experience and has just come back from filming as a guest with No Frontiers last week. In your experience is there any thing really crucial that she should do/try/people she should talk to in order to further her chances of realising her dream to present on television?

Also a question from me - what, do you think, was the secret ingredient in your novel that attracted a publisher and Marianne Gun O'Connor as your agent and does she have any golden piece of advice that she gives her writers which you could perhaps share with us? Like mant writers I'd love if she were my agent. I am nearly finished my second novel and will be sending it off to agents and publishers before Christmas so any help I can get I would really appreciate.

thanks a lot,

Megan

[Shirley]

Hi Anita, thanks for answering my question. I know you explained about how you got published at the Readers Day, but I thought it'd be interesting for all the other members on this site to hear your story as well! Hope you enjoyed the online interview.

[Susanne O'Leary]

Hi Anita, I missed the interview last night, so I thought I might send you a message today. It was lovely to meet you at the readers' and writers' event. ( I was the woman who wrote the fitness books) I am also in the middle of writing -novel no 5 a t this stage and my next book is coming out on 1 February (hope you can come to the launch), published by New Island. What I was going to ask you was: How do you cope with the ages of your caracters? What I mean is: at the moment my book is set in 2005, but it probably won't be published until 2007 at the earliest. In my book there are a lot of older people who remember the past and their ages won't match the year when the book is coming out . So what would you do about that? (I hope you understand my rather complicated question) Should I just ingore it and leave it to the editor?

[susanmay]

Thanks for answering my question, Anita. I look forward to reading the WWW Club.

[Marian]

Sorry to have missed you last night hope Book number 4 is a success and I am now on the lookout for books 1 and 2 have only read the wwwclub and enjoyed it.