Skip to main content

Interview with Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

Captain’s Log, Stardate 07.05.2007

Today I have an interview with chick lit duo, Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt talking about their latest novel, The Book of Jane.

Jane Williams is the happiest woman in New York. She has a dream job, a perfect Manhattan apartment, and a man she wants to marry. Her whole life is mapped out to the finest detail, and things just can't get any better. But in a New York minute, everything changes. After an evening on the town with a hot Hollywood actor her PR firm is wooing, she wakes up to a day filled with strange occurrences—a weird mark on her face and a red-haired woman who seems to be following her every move. This bizarre day turns increasingly horrible, and over the course of it, Jane loses her boyfriend, her best friend, her job, her home, maybe even her dog. Unsure of why she's being tested, Jane struggles to hold herself together while her world falls apart. Has God forgotten her?

In this witty and contemporary retelling of the story of Job, Jane discovers what she really wants, after nearly everything she holds dear slips away. Filled with the sophistication and excitement of city life, but sprinkled with humor and strong values, this new novel from the Dayton/Vanderbilt team charms, inspires, and warms the heart.


And now, here’s me, Anne, and May!

What gave you guys the idea for The Book of Jane?

May: I have this Magic 8 Ball and... Actually, we really wanted to show an "It" girl who loses it all.

Anne: We’d already retold the story of Esther (Emily Ever After) and Samson and Delilah (Consider Lily), and we wanted to tackle story that would be really awesomely horrible if it happened today. And everybody knows Job. It’s such an iconic story. Plus, everyone loves to see the person on top take a tumble.

May: The eerie part was that as soon as we started writing Jane, my whole life fell apart, just like hers. I couldn't find a steady job, my grandpa died, and I moved across the country away from all of my friends. Jane had it worse than I did, but this book was very real to me as we wrote it.

What was your favorite scene(s) from The Book of Jane?

May: Does it make me evil if I say the scene where her boyfriend dumps her? I think I can say that because Anne wrote that scene and she made Jane's pain and humiliation so visceral. And I've been hurt by love enough to be able to read a scene like that and just want to die for her.

Anne: I actually really liked the one were Jane is watching her future sister-in-law try on wedding dresses (May wrote this one). I think it’s pretty funny, and if you’ve ever been wedding dress shopping, you’ll understand. Plus, Jane and her mom, who are struggling to see eye to eye, have to deal with their disappointments about Jane’s life, and I think it’s a very real look at the way mothers and daughters relate to one another.

What's Jane's favorite dessert and why?

May: Jane doesn't eat dessert! That's how she stays so thin! I mean, if she ate dessert and still looked like the book cover, God wouldn't be very fair, would he?

Anne: May actually looks just like the girl on the book cover and eats dessert, and trust me, it’s totally unfair. But there is one scene where Jane has crème brulee with espresso. She’s immune to caffeine after so many years of long hours. I think May write this part, because I would never have a character drink coffee after mid-afternoon unless it was decaf.

What are you guys' favorite desserts and why?

May: Wow. It's so hard to choose! I love really high-end, double-dark chocolate truffles. I also love cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. And the entire dessert category known in my world as: Stuff with Kahlua in It.

Anne: I like chocolate as much as the next girl, but I prefer to fill up on fatty, salty foods and go of something lighter for dessert. Basically I like various combinations of vanilla ice cream and fruit. Or just fruit. Or just ice cream.

Writing as a twosome must be hard. Fess up, how often have you wanted to kill each other, and does living on opposite sides of the continent prevent you from committing homicide, or do you have clever ideas about how to hide the body?

Anne: People always think it’s really hard to write as a pair, but I love it. I mean, hello, you only have to do half of the work! But yeah, there are always things that come up. I think living on opposite sides of the country makes it harder than it was when we saw each other every day. It’s a lot easier to have a serious discussion in person than over the phone or e-mail. But it works, because May is awesome—a fantastic writer and a great friend. At the end of the day, I know she’d do anything for me, and I’d do the same for her.

May: May: I think it is my greatest compliment to Anne that I do sometimes want to kill her. I'm a middle child so to get me to that level of anger is rare. The only other people who do it are my baby sister and my fiance. She's in my inner-most circle! And living on opposite coasts helps us "keep the magic alive" in our friendship. I blame our significant others for keeping us apart. It ain't right!

You might already know, I have a dog (Snickers is very cute and incredibly stupid), and Jane has a dog. Which of you guys have dogs, what are their names and IQs, and how do you keep them from dashing out the front door when you open it for the mailman? Oh, and any tips for what to do when she actually catches a squirrel?

May: It's me! Jane's dog Charlie is named after my old boss (not kidding!) but is based on my adorable Chihuahua Buster. Buster has a genius-level IQ but the heart of a mouse. He once got beat up by a cat (a cat!) and to this day will shiver and shake in fear if I say the cat's name to him. And like Snickers, if I open the door for a mailman, he darts. I have no tips except maybe call the Dog Whisperer?

Anne: I don’t have a dog, but I have two cats. They’re very stupid, and their favorite way to pass the time is destroy things. When we got them, I wanted to name them both after Biblical hussies. I thought they could be a pair, like Gomer and Rahab, or Delilah and Bathsheba, or Woman at the Well and Whore of Babylon. But while my husband agreed to let me name one of them, he insisted on naming the other. So our cats’ names are Jezebel and Pants. Yes, like a pair of pants. How that’s a better name than Whore of Babylon I’ll never figure out.

You're off the hotseat! Any parting shots--er, words?

Anne: Cheese is good.

May: Isn't Camy great? Read Sushi for One! Then The Book of Jane!

Anne: This is why we work well together. At any given moment, odds are at least one of us is paying attention.

Camy here: ROFL! Thanks for the fun interview, guys!

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures

Year of the Dog serial novel, chapter 19

I’m posting a Humorous Christian Romantic Suspense serial novel here on my blog! Year of the Dog is a (second) prequel to my Warubozu Spa Chronicles series. Year of the Dog serial novel by Camy Tang Mari Mutou, a professional dog trainer, is having a bad year. While renovating her new dog kenneling and training facility, she needs to move in with her disapproving family, who have always made her feel inadequate—according to them, a job requiring her to be covered in dog hair and slobber is an embarrassment to the family. She convinces her ex-boyfriend to take her dog for a few months … but discovers that his brother is the irate security expert whose car she accidentally rear-ended a few weeks earlier. Ashwin Keitou has enough problems. His aunt has just shown up on his doorstep, expecting to move in with him, and he can’t say no because he owes her everything—after his mother walked out on them, Auntie Nell took in Ashwin and his brother and raised them in a loving Chri

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci

In-N-Out from A DANGEROUS STAGE

Source: tumblr.com via Camy on Pinterest In-N-Out, one of my fav burger joints, makes an appearance in the first chapter of A Dangerous Stage . It's a chain on the West Coast and Hawaii, I'm not sure how far east they have restaurants. They don't freeze any of their food, it's all fresh, including the buns and the french fries. When you order, you can see them use this french fry hand-crank machine to make their fries, it's pretty cool. The specific restaurant in A Dangerous Stage doesn't exist at that location, but there's a couple of them near me and I go there way too often than is good for me, but it's oh-so-yummy!

Daniel 9:9

Dear Lord, Thank you for being so merciful and forgiving to us no matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been. Thank you for loving us so much, even when we find it hard to love ourselves. Even if we have rejected you, you still reach out to us and want us to come to you for love and comfort and forgiveness. Thank you for your magnificent grace. Amen 主よ、 私たちが何をしようと、どこにいようと、私たちを憐れみ、赦してくださりありがとうございます。私たちが自分自身を愛することが難しいときでさえ、私たちをこんなにも愛してくださってありがとうございます。たとえ私たちがあなたを拒んだとしても、あなたは私たちに手を差し伸べ、愛と慰めと赦しを求めてあなたのもとに来ることを望んでくださいます。あなたの素晴らしい恵みに感謝します。 アーメン

Sweet & Clean Christmas Romance sale

I’m participating in the Sweet & Clean Christmas Romance sale. Check out all the sweet/clean romance books available and stuff your eBook reader! Sweet & Clean Christmas Romance

Preorder ONCE UPON A COURTSHIP and get a free ebook every month!

My novella, Lissa and the Spy , will first be released in the multi-author box set Once Upon a Courtship: A Sweet Historical Romance Collection , and if you preorder now, you’ll be able to subscribe to a special Reader Club Newsletter. Every month from now until October 2024, you’ll get a free Historical Romance ebook from one of the authors in the box set. 1) Preorder Once Upon a Courtship 2) Fill out this form with your order number 3) Get the secret link and SUBSCRIBE to the Once Upon a Courtship Reader Club Newsletter 4) Get your first free book The sooner you preorder, the more free books you’ll get! You’ll also be alerted when the Once Upon a Courtship box set is available to read. The newsletter will end October 2024 and you will NOT be automatically subscribed to the authors’ individual newsletters. You can sign up for their newsletters yourself if you wish. Preorder Once Upon a Courtship

Year of the Dog serial novel

About Year of the Dog : A month or two ago, I remembered an old manuscript I had completed but which hadn’t sold. It was a contemporary romance meant for Zondervan, titled Year of the Dog . The book had gone into the pipeline and I even got another title ( Bad Dog ) and a cover for it, but eventually my editor at the time decided she didn’t want to publish it, for various reasons. She instead requested a romantic suspense, and so I cannibalized some of the characters from Year of the Dog and thrust them into the next book I wrote, which was Protection for Hire . Honestly, I didn’t take a lot from Year of the Dog to put in Protection for Hire , aside from character names and a few relationship ties. I was originally thinking I’d post Year of the Dog as-is on my blog as a free read, but then it occurred to me that I could revamp it into a romantic suspense and change the setting to Hawaii. It would work out perfectly as (yet another) prequel to the Warubozu series and introduc

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th