Author Snapshot: Malena Lott

A Snapshot of... Malena Lott
Most recent book: Dating da Vinci (Sourcebooks Casablanca)
Resides: Oklahoma
Birthday: April 14
Web site: malenalott.com


What’s your favorite city?
I’m very pro Oklahoma City. If you’ve never visited, you’d be amazed at how progressive and modern it is now. We have a revitalized downtown, cultural Bricktown area, multi-million dollar arena and convention center, our first-ever NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and great cost of living. It’s very diverse with lots of great shopping, dining and nice, nice people.

You only have six hours to spend there. What do you do?
Head straight to downtown to see the Bricktown Canal, eat lunch at the Museum Café and then tour it to see the huge Dale Chihuly exhibit, visit our beautiful Oklahoma City National Memorial, then shop some of the downtown shops like Painted Door or head up to a wonderful independent bookstore called Full Circle Books.

What inspires you?
Nature. If I’m feeling glum, I just need to “fill up” with a few moments outside.

What are you working on now?
A work of women’s fiction about three sisters invited by their estranged mother of 20 years to “walk in her shoes” by traveling the world to see where she’s been the last two decades to decide if they want to reunite with her at the end of their journey. It’s like Eat, Pray Love meets Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Tell us about your process.
I like to go with the flow when it comes to writing. I don’t plot except for general beginning, middle, end and the theme. Characters come to me like a mirage at first and then as I’m writing the first draft they fill in and become whole, solid people standing in front of me. They are so real to me, that I miss them when I’m through with the book. I usually write in the morning (with two cups of coffee).

Lift your head and look around. What do you see?
I see a beautiful built-in bookshelf in my library, colors of red, gold and green in the furniture and home decor and tiger print carpet. A very cozy and elegant room. I write here in my sleek black recliner on my MacBook most mornings.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Sixth grade for sure. I’ve never not written, even though the format changed throughout the years -- journalism, radio and television ad copy, Web content, novels and, of course, lots and lots of blogs.

If you couldn’t write books, what would you be doing?
I would stick to branding and marketing companies. Otherwise, I think I would’ve been happy (and miserable) as a country singer.

For you, what is the easiest thing about being a writer?
Ideas and dialogue.

What’s the most difficult?
Revisions. And the almighty synopsis. I have yet to meet anyone who likes them.

What question do you get asked about your writing most often?
“How do you go about getting published?”

Everyone thinks there will be an easy answer to this. Like there’s a magic number you have to call to make it happen. I also get asked, “where do you get your ideas?” a lot.

What’s the question you’d like to be asked?
“Can I buy up all the books at your signing?”

Please tell us about your most recent book.
Dating da Vinci is about a young widow searching for la vita allegro, joyful living, two years after her husband’s death. She seeks answers to his past and a way to build a wholly new life. She teaches English to immigrants and meets a handsome Italian immigrant named Leonardo da Vinci who becomes a catalyst in her renaissance. The book explores the theme of soul mates, second chances and everlasting love as she finishes her dissertation on “The Language of Love” and rebuilds her life.

Tell us something about yourself that no one knows.
Most people don’t know that one of the first commercials I worked on in marketing featured Leonard Nimoy, Spock. I also burst into song spontaneously and love to dance around the house. Songs get stuck in my head and just have to come out. Much like my story ideas. My dearest friends know this about me, and don’t care. Sometimes they’ll even sing and dance with me.