Who is your hero and why?
I have so many heroes. It’s hard to pick just one. Lately my heroes have been writers who turned their personal pain into beloved books. For example, J.M. Barrie, whose brother died when they were both very young, and who went on to invent Peter Pan, the Boy Who Never Grew Up. Or J.K. Rowling, who lost her mother, and went on to write about Harry Potter, who lost his parents and searched to find a new, created family. Supposedly the dementors came from Rowling’s own bout with depression. Or P.L. Travers, who created Mary Poppins from scattered pieces of her own broken childhood, involving a charming, alcoholic father whose addictions deeply affected his family, and a figure who arrived, like Poppins, from the blue, and helped get their life back on track. There are so many examples, once you start to look at the stories of the authors.
It is such an empowering idea, that as writers, we all have the capacity to take the broken pieces of our lives and reassemble them into stories that bring others happiness.
What kind of world ruler would you be?
Benevolent.
Honestly, if I ever wound up in that position, I think I would just be mom to the world the way I am to my own kid and anyone else who crosses my path who needs help in some way. I would be loving and compassionate and remind the world that we can make a real difference by being sympathetic and empathetic to others. I would try my hardest to make time for anyone who needs me. Sometimes just being seen and heard is life-changing and transformative.
I would try to remind the world how much we all have in common and try to overcome the divisions between us. I would expect a lot of the world. And I would bake fresh hot cookies and share them and encourage others to do the same. A cookie can do a lot. (Healthier snack options too, for those who don’t eat wheat/sugar/dairy, etc.
What are you passionate about these days?
Writing, definitely. I am well into The Chronicles of Story, Volume Two: The Towered Prince. I am always passionate about reading, and get through several books a week, though that count is a bit less in these hectic days leading up to publishing.
I have gotten very passionate about authors who turn their tragedies into beloved books, like J.M. Barrie, whose brother died young, so he invented Peter Pan, the Boy Who Never Grew Up. Or J.K. Rowling, who lost her mother, and introduced us to Harry Potter, a boy shaped by the death of his parents. (The rumor is that the Dementors were based on her experience with depression.) There are so many stories like this, and they are fascinating and inspiring.
This idea of turning personal pain into a transporting book has really been driving me in the last year and a bit. I carried the story of my new book around for years, telling pieces of it to my son as a bedtime story, writing bits and tucking them away. Then post COVID, when I was mostly bedridden for months, I wrote the book.
I have had a rough time in recent years with chronic illness and pain. I wrote a mom character dealing with those issues into The Lost Princess of Story. I am so passionate about the idea of a book that tells the story that so many moms live with every single day, the story of always being low on energy and short on time but managing to use their limited resources to be an outstanding parent. I love the idea that other spoonie moms can read my book with their kids and love it themselves, and that they can see themselves in a heroine with their struggles who still manages to be loving and funny and strong and sometimes even kick a little butt and do a little magic. There is this saying: write the book you want to read. I wanted to see a mom be a hero, even against stiff odds.
I am also passionate about cardiac rehab, as I had heart damage post-COVID, and am trying to get stronger. And I have great love for War of the Roses and Tudor history, and for Broadway show tunes, and baking and cooking and just making a mess in the kitchen with my kid while inventing new recipes. And I love literary tourism and can’t wait until I am able to get back to actual trips, not just planning them on Pinterest.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
It’s really hard for me to unwind and relax. I am one of those people who has so many more things to do every day than actual time allows. I am having to learn to take time to relax. Reading is my number one go-to. I love big, rich, long books that take me to a different world and introduce me to characters that I invest in and worry about and get frustrated with and love.
How to find time to write as a parent?
Oh, that’s always the question, isn’t it? I am disabled, with several chronic illnesses and spinal injuries, and I have a child who is both gifted/special needs. Sometimes it seems as if every single minute I need to somehow manage to care for my child/care for my health/keep writing. All at the same time.
Definitely the time when my son is asleep is good writing time. It has gotten harder to find writing time in lockdown. On the one hand, it has been wonderful to have more family time than we have ever been blessed with before. On the other hand, there are those moments when you’re in the zone, writing great stuff that all flies out of your head when your family bursts into the room because they need something.
I found that scheduling time in blocks was a big help. I would write while my son was in e school. Then after school, we would have a chunk of time together. I sat down with my son and came up with a plan so that I could find writing time and he could know that there would be time for him as well. My son also was a huge help in brainstorming for me. He loves the world in my book and the characters, and we spent so much time together talking about the story and what would happen next.
Describe yourself in five words or less.
Loving. Imaginative. Tenacious. Brave. Exhausted.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I always wrote. I read before two, and my mom, who had taught school briefly before becoming a full-time mom (she taught Catholic school, she had to stop teaching once her pregnancy showed. How things have changed…) taught me to write early. I have books that I wrote even before kindergarten. Somewhere in first or second grade we watched a movie in school about a writer of children’s books. A little later, a writer visited the school. I kept writing. I always kept writing.
I don’t know that I really considered myself “a writer” for a long time. I was an actor for years. In those years, I often had day jobs that involved writing
Do you have a favorite movie?
Too many to pick! I love old classic musicals and Golden Age Hollywood, especially screwball comedies like The Philadelphia Story and Bringing up Baby. The witty banter... I have a soft spot for Disney princess musicals (and loved Enchanted, spoofing the whole love-at-first-sight fairy tale). And I love movies from books I love, like the Harry Potter series… although the books always are just that little bit better.
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
I think The Lost Princess of Story (and the entire Chronicles of Story, which I have loosely plotted) would make a great movie. Or a series of movies, like Harry Potter. Or even a Netflix series, which would give so much more space. The book is fairly epic in length, though it has short chapters and is a fairly quick read. I would love to see the World of Story on the big screen. I think the dual worlds of Brooklyn and Story would be very cinematic.
Coming from a playwriting and screenwriting background, I tried to put in a lot of funny dialogue that would be great in a movie, if that day ever came. And it would be exciting to see the diverse characters in a movie. (The book has LGBT+ characters, characters with disabilities, characters of color, characters that are non- or part-human, characters of a wide range of ages, etc. And coming volumes will be even more diverse.)
I have part of another series written but not yet published (first book done, other two books each about halfway done) that I think could also make a great movie. It is a YA coming of age trilogy called Professional Children that takes place in 1980s New York City. This is based extremely loosely on my experiences as a child actor and my husband’s time at the High School of Performing Arts and the Professional Children’s School. Professional Children is about a group of kids working on a teenage soap (a kind of Degrassi vibe), basically unsupervised by their parents, growing up too fast and falling in and out of love in mid-eighties New York.
Sounds like a great book. I like the cover. I enjoy reading fantasy.
ReplyDeleteHi, Susan! Hope you give Lost Princess a read. I had a great time writing it. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteSounds like a great book.. adding it to my to read list!
ReplyDeleteHi! I think you’ll really enjoy Lost Princess. It’s just 2.99 right now on Amazon. On the Hot New Release and Top 100 lists. Thanks for the comment.
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