Caldwell describes her books as “fun, female urban fiction,” but also notes “I love a good cliffhanger, whether it’s the end of a scene or the end of a book or the end of a chapter.” These opinions are reflected in her novels, which range from romantic to suspenseful.  Her most recent book, “The Night I Got Lucky,” a whimsical modern “fairy tale” about getting everything you want overnight, was released this September by Red Dress Ink. Her next book, “The Rome Affair,” about a Chicago society couple arrested for murder, will be published in June 2006. I recently chatted with Caldwell about writing, baseball, and the best places to hang out in the city.

Do you have a favorite place to write?

I can write on a plane, I can write on a desk, I can write in Starbucks, I can write in silence. I can pretty much write everywhere. Just because I think about my early days of writing, when I was trying to fit it in between practicing law and trying cases and having a boyfriend who’s now my husband, having good friends – having just an interest outside of that. I was trying to fit it in, so I would write on the El train, I would write on the bus, and I would write when I was sitting in court waiting for my case to be called, and I would write during depositions, which doesn’t make the clients who are paying you $200 an hour happy…[laughs]. But yeah, I can write anywhere.

You’ve been a pretty prolific writer since getting published.

It’s almost like, when you can’t get your foot in the door, then they finally open it a little bit of a crack, you’ve gotta like, jump your way in. I mean, I’m very conscious of the fact that writing is not as bad as Hollywood, but it’s entertainment, it’s a business, and there’s flavors of the month. I’m hoping not to be one of them.

So do you ever get writer’s block?

Knock on wood. I’m actually very nervous to read anything about writer’s block. I’m literally knocking on my bookshelf. I’m not sure I know what it is, and I don’t want to know. I know there [are] a couple of novels written where the main character is a writer who gets writer’s block. I’m always like [gasps]. I gasp and put my hand over the cover and put the book away, I don’t even like to hear about it and talk about it.

What book do you wish you’d written?

I can think of two. I mean, I wish I’d written a lot of books. But there’s two. “Bel Canto” – [by Ann Patchett]. It’s basically [about] a bunch of people who are held hostage in the South American embassy…so she’s got people from all over, and it’s multiple viewpoint, shifting to the third person, so it’s in one person’s head, then it’s another and another, and somehow, I think it’d be very hard to do multiple viewpoints, third person, characters of a lot of different cultures, and do it confidently, and she does it masterfully. Beautiful.

The other one that I wish that I’d written is “Social Crimes” by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. It’s really a kind of like chick lit mystery – I don’t know, she might not like me saying chick lit, some people take offense to that term – but it’s just a fun, sassy book. It’s about this Manhattan, Park Avenue princess who has everything: money, wealthy husband, friends, her place in society. And little by little, this young hot French woman takes over everything she has…and she decides she’s maybe going to have to kill her. It’s a really funny revenge fantasy.

So, do you take offense at being called a chick lit writer?

No. I’m resigned – and not even in a bad way. I know people think it’s a little limiting, and I can certainly understand why they think the term is limiting, but it’s sort of like saying “When Harry Met Sally” is a chick flick. And I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It’s entertaining, it might appeal to a lot of women, and ultimately, that’s what I want to do. I want to be entertaining, I want to appeal to a lot of women, and if some men like it, great.

When I first started practicing law, I was much more determined to be taken seriously. And the longer that I’m out of the law and that I’m writing, I have a much easier time being girly, and I don’t take offense to as many things as I used to. I’m not struggling to make it by in a man’s world. There are a lot of cool women that are writing, and strangely, I’ve found that the other women that are writing are really supportive, so there’s no real competitiveness.

When did you have the idea for “The Night I Got Lucky”?

I guess it mostly started with me thinking about my toddler niece, and no matter how much I wanted her to be happy, she was going to have unhappy times, she was going to have issues, even if she got everything she wanted her whole life. I had actually been given this little jade green frog. So I kind of was thinking, wonder if somebody got this frog and actually got everything they wanted immediately? You work for things that you want, but it takes time, and you slowly realize that you’re always going to have issues through it, and I thought, “what if I got everything I wanted in one night?” Then really had to work at whether or not what you think will make you happy does make you happy. And it’s not that those things don’t make you happy, it’s just that there’s always going to be issues to deal with. We really can’t go through life ever thinking that any stage of life is going to be easy and coasting. But I still persist in trying to think that. I just think, if I do this, if I just get this contract, or just do that, it’s going to be so easy. Life is just going to sail. But your dishwasher’s always going to break. Somebody’s going to call up with an S.O.S. call

I felt like there was a bit of a “Wizard of Oz” vibe with Blinda [Billy’s ‘magical’ therapist]. Was that on purpose?

You know, I thought of that later myself. I was calling her something else, and I kept coming back to “Blinda.” But you’re right, it is like Glinda, the good witch, right? It was not intentional, but I’m sure it subconsciously came up. I find that I do that a lot, think of something I’ve written and I literally have never sat down and thought “it should be like that” and taken something out of a book or a movie I’ve seen. But you know, things that you like and things that you’ve seen a lot, they’ll worm their way into your head.

You’re from the North Side. Are you a Cubs fan or White Sox fan?

I was raised kind of in both, because my father is a South Side guy, who took us to the White Sox games growing up, and then my mother is a North Side Polish woman. After I moved to Chicago, I lived on the North Side. So I was raised Sox and a little Cubs, but now I live on the North Side so of course I’m Cubs.

I interviewed [Michael Clarke Duncan] one time for an article, and I asked him that, I was like “White Sox or Cubs?” and he was like “I don’t get why we have to pick.” So I second his motion. I don’t get why I have to pick.

What are your favorite spots in Chicago?

One of my favorite spots ever to be in Chicago is to be at the Jimmy Buffett concert on Labor Day. You just walked around and people were just like, happy happy happy. You’d go to the bathroom and people would be like “how’s your show?” “can I get you a beer?” People are just helpful and fun, and honest to god I’ve never seen 30,000 people happier than at Wrigley Field that Sunday at Buffett. It was unbelievable.

But my favorite spots – like, regular spots – My new favorite, it just opened two weeks ago, it’s called eatZi’s. It’s a gourmet grocery and carryout, and it’s on Clark next to the Century City Mall. And it’s seriously got like, gourmet salads and rotisserie chickens and cheeses and wines. Just all these beautiful carryout dinners. We’re total eat-out, carry-out people, it’s heaven. I’ve been there three times in the past two days. I just keep showing back up and being like, “hi, it’s me.”

I noticed on your Web site that you do book club visits, which is fantastic.

Seriously, it’s the best. I have one tomorrow night out in Arlington Heights, and one next week like in Glenview. It’s so funny, because every time you do a book club, everyone apologizes: “I’m so sorry, we actually don’t talk about the book that much.” I’m like “no problem! Give me another glass of wine!” Everybody is so funny, though. Women – you know, book clubs. There’s a couple I have been to that are super super serious about it. And people are serious about reading. But when they get together, they’re mostly serious about being girls who are having a couple of cocktails, which I totally support.

Write Comment
Name:	Guest
Title:
Comment:
Code:*

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!