In her own words, today's interviewee is "a former editor-at-large for Time Inc. and a former editor-in-chief of Vibe. She writes around for Elle, Cosmo, Essence, wrote once for the New Yorker, will show up in Rolling Stone sometimes, still reps in spirit for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and wrote concert/album reviews for the New York Times back in the day. Smith is the author of the San Francisco Chronicle-bestselling novel, More Like Wrestling, and she wrote the introduction for the New York Times-bestseller Tupac Shakur." Her second novel, Bliss is out now.

What did you learn from writing your first book that helped you with your second book?
Hm. I learned a bunch of stuff, but mostly to just write the darned chapters. You think there's going to be all this confidence because you've already written one novel, but, at least for me, there wasn't a whole bunch of new condfidence, but there was this feeling of: I can finish. I CAN FINISH WRITING A NOVEL, because I'd finished More Like Wrestling. And I think I was able to finish More Like Wrestling because I'd closed twenty-one issues of Vibe. There's so much more to learn about writing novels. Too much. I'm up for it, though.

I always figure that it's difficult to write fiction about the music industry because the truth is often stranger than fiction. How did you work on keeping things realistic--but not copying real life--with Bliss?
I let Eva guide me. She's my main character, and so there was very little "copying" real life, as she has her own life, so to speak, within the covers of Bliss. Eva has her own truth. There are so many lives in the real music business, so much angst and joy and fun and trauma and sex and drama and guilt and glamour - and Eva experiences her share of all this, but her experiences are truly hers. I did try to recreate certain moods, and certain places - the Bahamas, for example, and Carmel, California, and parts of Los Angeles. I teach a course called Creating a Sense of History and Place in Fiction and Nonfiction, so I take it pretty, probably too seriously. But we're all of us more about where we're from and where we're at than where we think we're going, so I get real earnest and photographic about it.

As a journalist, have you had to deal with male interview subjects making inappropriate comments? How do you handle that gracefully?
Ha! Depends, as do most things, on the situation. I'm good for ignoring comments. I'm good for a sweet, yet icy-clear glare. I'm good for a smart-alec, inappropriate reply. I'm good also for reading an "inappropriate" comment, letting it ride, and using it to analyze my subject, and often for quoting it in the piece to illustrate the personality/persona of the interviewee, whether it's a male or a female. Lots of times, inappropriate comments are what I'm hoping for. Better story that way.

What advice do you have for freelancers hoping to break into music writing?
For people starting out in a market like NYC, I have no idea.

As a music writer/editor, how do you balance parties/making appearances with remaining professional?
You have an exaggerated idea of my social schedule! Being professional is, for better or for worse, a part of my personality at this point. I'm a journalist, a writer, so even when I'm enjoying a scotch 'n'soda, and shaking my butt on the dance floor, I'm an excellent, all remembering, fly-on-the wall.