David Bell's REAL writing life #bookgiveaway

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN:  How often have you taken your seat on an airplane, and stolen a look at the person in the seat beside you..and wondered? Who they are and where they’re going, and whether just ever, you have anything in common? And then you turn back to your book,  because yeesh, no time to talk to anyone, and you fly to your destination with pretzels and a diet coke, and you never see them again?

That’s my usual flight. But sometimes, someone will say something to me, and it turns  out to be life-changing. It happened, absolutely, once. But that’s another blog.

In David Bell’s new book,  LAYOVER, the coolest airplane story ever:

Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person.

Ahhh. Brilliant! And we asked David to roust himself from the champagne and limos and general acclaim that every writer experiences to …wait. What? No champagne? No glamour? We’ll let the amazing David explain. 

The Real Writing Life

   By David Bell

Most writers I know have day jobs. While it’s certainly possible to make a decent amount of money as a writer that income is hardly guaranteed.. One book that sells poorly, one editor who loses their job, and the writer may find their income decreasing dramatically or disappearing altogether. This isn’t exactly the glamorous side of writing. This isn’t the thing people think about when they picture writers flying on private jets or sipping cocktails outside their beach villas.

I’ve been a professional writer for the past twelve years. And what I mean by professional is that people have been paying me for my work. (Let’s not count all the years that went before when no one was paying me.) And during every one of those twelve years I’ve had a full-time job. Why have I kept my job while writing a new book every year? It turns out that health insurance and a retirement plan are nice things to have. Sure, it’s glamorous to think of F. Scott Fitzgerald drinking it up all over Europe and Hollywood. He also keeled over in his forties, negating the necessity for long-term planning. Most writers live in the real world. They have families, spouses, aging parents, kids who need braces, and dogs that need food.

But my day job may seem somewhat unusual for a thriller writer. I’m an English professor at Western Kentucky University where I direct the MFA program. Does it seem odd to find someone who writes thrillers about kidnappers and murderers sharing the hallways with professors who are teaching Milton and Shakespeare and Morrison? Perhaps. But, then again, think about the content of some of those classics. As I recall there are a lot of murders, poisonings, thefts, and unfaithful spouses in those stories. 

And other thriller writers have come from the halls of academia before me. Most notably one of my writing heroes, David Morrell, who was a college professor before becoming a full-time writer. In fact, David and I have a lot in common. Our first names. Our careers in academia. Our PhDs. And the fact that we’ve both sold millions of books by creating an iconic character that  spawned a film franchise. (Okay, we don’t have that last part in common.)

But what are the advantages to my life as a college professor? Why does this job work alongside my writing career? For one, I have summers “off.” I don’t have to teach in the summer, and except for the occasional meeting or thesis defense I’m free to use my time for writing and revising. 

During the academic year, I’m not stuck in a cubicle with someone looking over my shoulder from 9 until 5. Academics like their independence, and they’re used to working on their own, qualities most writers have as well. So even though I’m busy with my teaching job during the semester, I can find the occasional stolen moment to write between classes. 

It’s also part of my job to write and publish. I wouldn’t have earned tenure without publishing books, so the university has an expectation that I will be writing and publishing. Maybe not as much as I have, but that expectation is still there. Finally, I get to spend my days talking about books and writing. So even when I’m at my day job I’m thinking about the writing life by sharing my knowledge with my students. And oftentimes I’m learning things from them. 

I often tell my students that if they want to have careers as writers they have to structure their lives so that as much as possible writing comes first. My day job has allowed me a decent amount of time to put writing first while also providing a steady paycheck, benefits, and the opportunity to make people call me “Doctor” if I want to. All in all, not a bad deal for a writer. And much better than drinking myself to death to avoid old age.

HANK: Well, yeah. True. Reds and readers, if you’re writing, do you still keep a day job? Why? And if you’re a reader—or a writer—who’s the most interesting person you’ve ever met on a plane?

A copy of LAYOVER to one lucky commenter!

About LAYOVER

In this high concept psychological suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter, a chance meeting with a woman in an airport sends a man on a pulse-pounding quest for the truth.
Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person.

What follows is a whirlwind, fast-paced journey filled with lies, deceit, and secrets as Joshua tries to discover why Morgan has vanished from her own life. Every time he thinks one mystery is solved, another rears its head—and his worst enemy might be his own assumptions about those around him.

About David Bell 

David Bell is the USA Todaybestselling and award-winning author of nine novels from Berkley/Penguin: LAYOVER, SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER, BRING HER HOME, SINCE SHE WENT AWAY, SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW, THE FORGOTTEN GIRL, NEVER COME BACK, THE HIDING PLACE, and CEMETERY GIRL. He is an Associate Professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky and can be reached through his website davidbellnovels.com.