Writers Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella:A Mother-Daughter Team

Bestselling crime writer Lisa Scottoline pairs up with her daughter Francesca Serritella every week to write about their lives -- women, motherhood, daughterhood, boyfriend, pets -- and their latest columns have been compiled into their fourth book together: "Have a Nice Guilt Trip." (St. Martin’s Press, $24.99)

In their interview with me for The Washington Post, they spoke about what it's like to work together, Francesca as a writer still working on her first novel, and Lisa, who's written more than twenty.

Here's a bit that couldn't fit into yesterday's Washington Post interview.

Burns: What’s it like to write as a mother/daughter team?

Serritella: "I try not to make my Mom my editor, because as a writer, I can find a lot of great editors, but I only have one Mom. Also we would obviously just fight. (laughs) But it’s funny, when we put the columns together – and this is my Oh-my-God-am-I-becoming-my-mother? moment – you begin to see these parallels that we didn’t plan at all. In an earlier book, I had written an essay completely busting myself, my own crisis of feminism, when I realized I was getting a little neurotic, reading the New York Times wedding announcements. This was so out of character for me, but I was worrying, Oh, am I going to find the right person, she’s this age, I’m that age… I was totally like I have to change this, so I wrote about that. And then I saw Mom had written one about getting neurotic reading the obituaries, and I thought: OK, we both need to calm down. Step away from the newspaper!

Scottoline: I think by reading these books a mother can find out how your daughter thinks by reading how my daughter thinks; and I also find out by reading these essays.

Here's the full interview.