Here is a place that Elizabeth will answer your most frequently asked questions:

Q: I’m interested in how you write. Do you have a set time that you write every day? How do you come up with creative ideas?

A: When I’m working on a writing project, I act as if I have a job at a bank. I “go to work” at a certain time and “stay at work” until a certain time. I put this time in my calendar. I also write in my calendar what I intend to accomplish in this time period. Then I go to the computer and work.

I don’t wait until I feel creative; if I did, I doubt that I would ever write. Flannery O’Connor, the novelist, who wrote on the top of the dresser in her bedroom on the family farm in Georgia, always said that from nine until twelve everyday she was in there sitting at that dresser. That way, if a good idea came by, she’d be there to catch it.

I work that way, too. I find something to do on my writing project and get to work. Then while I’m working, I’ll have new ideas, see connections, get inspired—or not, as the case may be on that day. I’ve learned over the years of writing 18 books that the consistency of “going to work” and keeping momentum going on the project by doing something connected to it in the writing time I’ve set aside are key to getting a writing project done.

I also make sure I’m doing other things, too, when I have a writing project. I go to a museum or a junk store or a nature trail. I read other books, all kinds of books, not books related to the subject I’m working on. I cook.

Q: Every time I re-read Seven Choices, I wish the book were illustrated with photographs. If you were to add pictures in the book, what are some snapshots you would include?

A: Based on conversations with readers, here are a few of the pictures I think you would enjoy seeing. (Let me know if there are other ones you would like to see.)

First, here is a picture of Greg and me at our wedding at John Oliver’s Cabin in Cade’s Cove, Tennessee.

Here is a picture of the Tennessee cabin in the snow.

In the opening chapter of Seven Choices, I write about sitting on Mother’s and Daddy’s screened-in porch shelling butterbeans. Well, here are Daddy and I in the garden where he grew the butterbeans, as well as corn, tomatoes, okra, squash, watermelons, and who knows what else!

Q: Are you writing another book?

A: My latest book, Tough Transitions, published by Warner Books in New York came out in paperback September 2006. I am now taking a breather from doing a book-length project. However, I continue to write, doing the blog for this website as well as other shorter projects. For more than a decade I have kept a Commonplace Book in which I gather quotes, bits of conversation, and ideas that are important to me. I also write in this book on a regular basis, not just as a personal journal but as a repository of explorations of subjects and events and experiences that I find meaningful. Writing is probably the main way that I deliberately and consciously think. I highly recommend the practice!

Q: Did you ever remarry after your husband died?

A: Yes, after being a widow for a few years I met and married my husband, Jerele. The year 2008 brought our 25th wedding anniversary! We enjoy traveling. Here is a picture of us in Egypt.