Author Confessions: Consequences Are a Bitch

The Janet Roberts Edition

Several years after I left my first job my former boss was arrested for embezzlement of public funds. I was both shocked and a little bit not.

I certainly didn't know anything specific but there were things that at the time seemed vaguely weird that suddenly made sense. (Like that vacation to the Cayman Islands. Yes, seriously. What can I say I was young and naive and it was years before Ozark came out.)

I've never thought about incorporating the event into a novel—and in fact hadn't even thought about him in years—until today's guest Janet Roberts made such a convincing case of the role corporate ambition and greed can play in fiction with her novel What Lies We Keep.

Let's dish on the book, Janet's takeaways from her years working in corporate America, and how she's drawn to developing female characters undergoing personal evolutions.

**Read to the end to learn how US residents can enter our e-book giveaway.**

Author Confessions (AC): Tell us about your novel…

Janet Roberts (JR): What Lies We Keep is a moving story of corporate ambition that shakes the very foundations of a marriage and asks the provocative question: “What happens when we embrace the life we think we should have, rather than the life we have?”

Ted is addicted to the trappings of corporate life—the titles, the money, and the promise of visible success that he prefers over his family’s Montana ranch. He’s in conflict with his wife, Charlotte, who wants a simpler, family focused life—possibly in Montana—rather than their urban life in Pittsburgh. Ted’s brother, Jesse, runs the family ranch which isn’t doing well financially.

Ted works in cybersecurity. He sees something he should report but, instead, does something unthinkable to get a promotion and hides his actions from Charlotte. The guilty co-conspirators he should have reported turn the tables on him. Ted claims he’s innocent, but Charlotte leaves, taking their young daughter. As Ted works to clear his name, Charlotte embarks on a journey to find her own inner strength. She leans on her friends, but one friend has a secret that shocks Charlotte, upending everything she believes about Ted. Unsure who to trust, she jettisons from hurt and anger to the tempting promise of solace in the arms of a handsome River Rescue officer.

What Lies We Keep stretches from Pittsburgh’s urban skyline to the beautiful ranch country of Montana. Reviewers have called it “twisty,” “cinematic,” and “a deeply intelligent work.”

AC: What’s your take on the idea of “write what you know”?

JR: It’s important to mix what you know with research about what you don’t know and then leave a wide path for your imagination to create something new.

I think it means you tap into your own knowledge, experience, and emotions to help you imagine what your character would do in a variety of situations, but never to the extent where it becomes autobiographical or very obviously creates a character reflective of a real person. Sometimes it might be a situation you’ve experienced or seen another go through, other times it’s a situation you imagine.

AC: Why did you write this book and why now?

JR: I was 46 years old when I finally went to work in a corporation. I’d avoided it my entire life, feeling it would squash my creative abilities as a writer. Nearly everyone in my family was working in a corporation of some sort and it never seemed like a good fit for me. But I was earning very low wages in law firms and then working at a university. In the 2008 recession, I was out of work and accepted a job offer in corporate communications at a domestic insurance company.

As I improved my financial status, moving my life forward enough to purchase a small condo, I also became depressed at the back biting and ladder climbing I witnessed, always avoiding it and seeking out people who were not so inclined.

I went from that company to two different multi-national corporations, building a career as a top cybersecurity awareness and education leader, but the higher up I went and the better I ensured my own retirement security, the more I saw people whose insecurities led them to seek personal validation through titles and power—often in ways that were damaging to others.

I also watched many really smart, hard working people quietly toil, passed over because they could not or would not play the political game or because their superior abilities might be a threat to an insecure manager.

In the process, I made a lot of amazing lifelong friends and learned to travel the world, so I don’t want this to sound like a totally negative experience. I was able to retire at 64 and focus on writing books.

In 2018, while complaining to a friend about a few of the more annoying corporate ladder climbers, she told me to just write about it.  I admit this book started as a catharsis of sorts and then evolved into what was published in May.

I always like to think that when a person takes the wrong path they eventually want to redeem themselves and find a better way forward. It might be naive of me, especially in the current climate in our country, but I prefer to see my protagonists in this light.

AC: Did any experiences or events from your life shape the plot?

JR: Yes. I would say in every job experience—and I’ve had a lot of varied professions over the years—I saw people who became so obsessed with their careers that they lost a sense of what is valuable in life.

In corporations, I saw people needing to validate themselves and equate their own value with the ratings they receive and titles given or not given to them. In some instances, I saw this push them to pretty bad behavior towards other humans working with them. It made me sad and mad, and as I moved up the ladder caused me to have to deal with jealousy and some of that bad behavior.

I wondered what if someone completely lost control of their ethics and fed this craving for success in a way that blew up their lives. Ted does this beyond—or at least I hope beyond and in excess of—what the average worker would even think of doing. In most instances, my co-workers enjoyed their jobs but knew that what was most important in their lives was not attached to a job title or rating

AC: Are any characters—or aspects of characters—based on you or anyone you know?

JR: I would say “no” overall. I make a conscious effort to create fictional characters that may have an amalgamation of a variety of characteristics I’ve seen in people I’ve observed or known, but they are solely a product of my imagination.

Life experience helps a writer to form credible characters, but the character, for me, should be fictional. To do otherwise would not be fiction and could be hurtful to others.

That said, Charlotte’s insecurities and wishy-washy inability to pinpoint her life goals or find her personal power until she is faced with a crisis are somewhat reflective of me at the same age and stage in my life.

AC: Do you find yourself drawn repeatedly to the same or similar themes? Why?

JR: I find myself drawn to develop female characters who are evolving, who haven’t found their own voice or inner strength.

It took me a long time to find my own superpower and to call myself a writer. I think many women of all ages are on this type of a growth journey. Only in a Hollywood movie do they hatch fully formed and run the world!

That evolution of self most often is born out of adversity so I place the female protagonist against various types of adversity and I enjoy moving her forward.

I’ve had a lot of adversity in my life. The pivotal point of change was when I fought and survived cancer. Using the things that happen to you in life, good and bad, to propel you toward your dreams is key to finding that superpower and personal happiness.

AC: Any details in the book that reflect your real life?

JR: I set my books wholly or partially in Western Pennsylvania where I have deep roots. I was born and raised in Erie, on the Great Lakes, and my mother comes from a small town southwest of Pittsburgh where we spent quite a bit of time in my childhood with her large extended family.

My first novel was set in that small town and the second was set partially in Erie. What Lies We Keep is set partially in Pittsburgh, where I now live, but it’s also the first time I’ve incorporated cybersecurity into the plot. In my real life, I spent 15 years building cybersecurity education and awareness programs and I intend to sprinkle a bit of that in other novels going forward.

Specifically, Chapter 30 was crafted from my 2017 memories of my first and only adventure fly fishing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with my nephew while I was there for a writers conference. It was magical and I never thought I’d be able to use it in my writing, but that chapter —my personal favorite — just flowed out of me and has bits of my own experience that day.

AC: Any “confessions” you’d like to make? Or things no one knows about you?

JR: As a child, I dreamed of being a writer and a concert pianist. In elementary school I’d had a couple really bad teachers and, in the 4th grade, I was assigned to Mrs. Whitmore who was so wonderful that I wrote my first poem to give to her as a present. My mother asked me, gently, if I’d copied it from somewhere (she still feels badly about that).

Fast forward, I stopped piano lessons at 15 but kept writing—and my mother, who is 90, still reads each of my books and lets me know which she thinks are the best. She’s now my top book seller in her senior independent living facility!

Behind the Keyboard: AKA The Top 10 List

1. How long did it take from the book’s beginning to The End?

About 5  years if you count all the revisions. 4 years to complete the first draft.

2. How many drafts?

Four

3. Do you use a daily word count / time period / etc to know when you’re done for the day?

No. I’m not always able to write every day, although now that I’m retired I’ve gotten more consistent. I write every morning for at least an hour or until either I’m no longer producing words or life invades!

4. Type or handwrite?

Both. I primarily type. I fell in love with the laptop when it first arrived in the 1980’s. But I handwrite scenes in a soft cover notebook when I’m traveling. Wherever I am, I can pull it out of my purse or tote, sit down and write what I see. I often go back and pull from these scenes when working on a book. Although I don’t write poetry often, I always draft it by hand.

5. Plotter or pantser?

100% pantser!  I’ve added light outlining to lower the number of revisions after reading Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates Martin and learning the W approach to plotting. I map what I’m thinking the architecture and tension points of the book will be on a whiteboard, periodically adding notes as I write the book. When I get stuck, I go to the whiteboard and get back on track. But my normal routine is to write and leave myself comments through out the Word document to address when I re-read it in the first revision of the first draft.

6. Beverage or other pre-writing routine of choice?

Coffee. I’m a water-a-holic by nature, but for writing I need coffee. I love coffee. La Prima coffee roasters in Pittsburgh is my favorite!

7. Do you read outside your genre? If so, what?

The short answer is “yes.” But I’m not sure I have a specific genre. I’ve been told I’m a bit “genre bending” by a few people. I read historical fiction, thriller, suspense, mystery, magical realism, and some non-fiction by journalists or people I find interesting.  I prefer novels where the women—be they protagonist or not—are on a journey to find their own strengths.

8. Most exhilarating aspect of writing?

When I suddenly write a phrase or paragraph that I love and the writing goes from the standard struggles to perfect dialogue or plot or search for the right word to something lyrical that just flows from me until the scene is complete. Chapter 30 in What Lies We Keep was like that for me.

9. Most challenging aspect of writing?

Marketing the book and writing query letters

10. Favorite resource for writers?

Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates Martin; The Emotion Thesaurus and The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi; webinars and the Facebook community from the Women's Fiction Writers Association

Anything else you’d like to share?  In 2015/2016, when I self-published two novels and a memoir, there was so much stigma around self-publishing. Literary agents were the gatekeepers and there were limited resources for self-publishers. I’m amazed and thrilled at how options have grown for writers and no choice is frowned upon. Writers can find the route to publishing that fits their needs and feels comfortable for them. I love that about our industry!

AC: Janet Roberts, thanks so much for Confessing!

To learn more about Janet, visit the links below...

Instagram: @janetroberts77

Website: www.booksbyjanetroberts.com

To enter our drawing* to win an e-book of What Lies We Keep, drop a comment below by Sunday. As always, if you enjoy a book, then leaving a good review is the best gift you can give an author.

*Open to US residents only