Former Y&R star Eileen Davidson is happily ensconced in a new front-burning storyline on B&B, but her workday hardly stops when she leaves the studio. The devoted wife and mother is in the midst of launching a clothing line and in the throes of writing a book. No "downtime" here!

Soap Opera Weekly: What can you tell us about the book you're working on?
Eileen Davidson: It's with Penguin Books and it's a mystery novel revolving around the soap opera world.

Weekly: The saying is, "Write about what you know best."
Davidson: Yeah, exactly!

Weekly: How far along are you?
Davidson: We have to have it to the publisher by July/August, so I'm knee-deep.

Weekly: Do you find yourself able to write at specific times?
Davidson: Not yet. If I make myself write, it all comes out. It's just making yourself sit down and [do it].

Weekly: It must be hard though, since you're always working at B&B, and there's the clothing line and being a mom and a wife. You've got to have the creative energy to put into that.
Davidson: It's like nothing was really planned, it just all happened.

Weekly: When and how did you come up with the idea for the book?
Davidson: My husband [Vincent Van Patten, ex-Christian, Y&R] just wrote a book with Bob Randisi, and we had him over for dinner last year. Jokingly, I said we should do something set around the soap opera world. He said yeah. Then, a month later, I called him back. I said, "Were you serious?" He said absolutely. So we wrote a line and sent it to Penguin, and they took it. Then we got our deadline. He's prolific. He writes constantly. I've already written him a bunch of pages and outlined the characters and the world of soaps. We have [developed] the voice of the lead character, so we're on our way.

Weekly: Is it giving you a different sense of creative fulfillment than acting?
Davidson: Oh, yeah, a whole different thing.

Weekly: Have you ever thought about writing TV scripts or screenplays?
Davidson: Sometimes, but everything has its own time and place. Right now, I don't see that happening, but you never know. Depending how this book does, it could very well be a TV series or a TV movie.

For more with Eileen Davidson, check out our feature interview with her in Soap Opera Weekly, on sale April 30, cover date May 8.