INTERVIEW: Linda Benson - Middle Grade YA Author of "Finding Chance" & "The Horse Jar"

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Linda Benson. She grew up in Northern California on a prune ranch. Ms. Benson spend a lot of time running barefoot in the orchards, picking prunes in the summer for 25 cents a box, playing with her animals, riding her bike, and enjoying being a kid.

She always wanted to write children's books ever since second grade, but she didn't get around to it until later in life. Ms. Benson is the author of two middle grade novels: “Finding Chance” & “The Horse Jar”

Finding Chance is about the story of a lonely twelve-year-old Alice and a lonely dog named Chance. Her debut novel “The Horse Jar” is about Annie Mitchell. Annie loves horses and dreams to have a horse of her own.

E.I. Would you share some early self-reflection to give us a sense of who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Give your readers three “Good to Know” facts about your first job experience, the inspiration for your writing career, any fun details or anecdotes that would enliven your page. Also tell us about Linda Benson today -- the woman behind the two middle grade YA author of “The Horse Jar” & “Finding Chance.”

Linda Benson: As a teenager, I rode my horse a lot, played the piano and guitar and fancied myself growing up to be a singer/songwriter. One of my first jobs was working at a zoo, and I’ve also started a native plant nursery, a plant rental business, and a horse brokerage, and have been a substitute teacher and elementary school librarian, among other things. Nature and animals always seem to find their way into my books because they are such a large part of who I am. Today, I still have horses, donkeys, dogs and cats, and I love to read and write.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing middle grade YA novels entirely that enchants you, and gives you the enduring passion to continue in such a demanding profession?

Linda Benson: The reason I write for young people is that I so distinctly remember those “in-between” years - having my own distinct thoughts and ideas but having such a hard time making myself “heard.” Those formative years, when you are developing the sense of who you are in this big world, are a great source of conflict, interesting story lines, and I hope satisfying or a least hopeful resolutions.

E.I. Please tell your young readers about your novel “Finding Chance.” What was it that sparked your imagination? What were your favorite aspects about this book?

Linda Benson: I started Finding Chance after a move to a new area (and I have moved many times in my adult life) in which I felt like a new girl, all over again. So Alice’s feelings at the beginning of the novel – knowing no one, feeling like an outsider – were very easy for me to identify with and write. The setting of that story was sparked from magical times in my childhood, walking the creeks and back roads of the Santa Cruzmountains of California. Although Fox Creek is a fictional town, it is not too far removed from small towns sprinkled throughout the coastal mountains of California.

E.I. How do you weave so much fun of information while writing and creating the character of twelve-years-old ‘Alice’ and yet you keep them so fast-paced? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story?

Linda Benson: The characters in Finding Chance just kind of showed up during the course of writing the novel. For instance, without giving too much away, of course there would be a librarian at the library, but that particular character and plotline just developed on its own as Alice’s story unfolded. And Heron – yeah, she’s a great character, isn’t she? I think all the people we ever meet in life are all there in our minds as inspiration to draw from, and we kind of mix and match unconsciously as they show up in new and interesting combinations on the page. That is such a fun part of the creative process.

E.I. You've created a cast of so remarkably captivating and really fun characters: Alice, Chance, Heron, the Librarian and Alice mother that your readers definitely clamor for more; how did you decide what level of details your readers will accept? How does your creative process work?

Linda Benson: The Horse Jar was actually the first novel that I completed, although it is the second one published. I have written about the long road to publication of The Horse Jar here: http://lindabenson.blogspot.com/2009/09/horse-jar.html It was a storyline that came to me pretty much in its entirety, although the ending was tweaked a bit in final drafts. The Horse Jar was the one I wrote following the advice writers hear so often: “write what you know.” Well, I certainly knew about growing up as a young girl living and breathing horses. And I knew about buying and selling horses, because I’ve done that also. Many of the characters and situations in that novel were easy to write because they were so close to home.

E.I. And finally what’s next with Linda Benson? Can you give your fans a sneak peek about your upcoming book?

Linda Benson: I have two new manuscripts that I am excited about - one is a horse story set in the future, and the other is a contemporary story about a boy and girl whose paths cross because of a lost dog. Hopefully you will be hearing more about them soon.

E.I. Ms. Benson, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers all over the world?

Linda Benson: Advice for aspiring writers. Read, read, and read some more. Join a critique group, and keep seeking to perfect your craft. There is a lot of information out there about how to become published. Find it and study it. But most importantly - believe in yourself, and don’t give up on your dreams.

Photo of Linda Benson courtesy of her daughter
To learn more about Linda Benson, please visit her website
To purchase her books, please visit AMAZON
Linda Benson's BLOG
Linda Benson on Twitter

INTERVIEW: Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve - Screenwriter, TV & Film Producer and Award-Winning Author of "Drizzle"

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Kathleen De Marco Van Cleve. She is the author of children's book “Drizzle.” She's a screenwriter and also wrote 2 adult fiction novels: Cranberry Queen which was a Book Sense 2001 pick, originally optioned by Miramax Films, and The Difference Between You and Me 2003, both published by Miramax Books.

While living in New York, Ms. Van Cleve was working as a film producer and writing partner for many years to Emmy award-winning actor and Golden globe nominee, John Leguizamo. Mr. Lequizamo is famous for his role "Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec" with Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge and To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar with Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipe.

Ms. DeMarco Van Cleve was co-writing with Lequizamo in films such as The Secret Life of Jesse Sanchez, under option to Universal Films in Rebel Films, a NY-based production company.

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve has also been the producers of numerous films, among them are: Undefeated, Pinero and Joe the King which won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, Big Shorty an animated TV series under option to Nickelodeon, Sexabolix; a Love Story HBO Films and others.

She had been very active as a Development Executive, seeing through such films as The Story of O, Before He Wakes, King of the Jungle, Murder at 75 Birch Street, The Beast based on the novel by Peter Benchley and others. For several films she managed the development process, she wrote the treatment that sold the project to the studio or network.

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve holds her B.S. and B.A. in Creative Writing from Penn University where she graduated in 1988. She also has dual degree from the Wharton School College of Arts & Sciences.

She has been a consultant for NYU's Tisch School of the Arts M.F.A. dramatic writing program as well as for Tisch's undergraduate dramatic writing candidates. Ms. DeMarco Van Cleve, also teaches creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her book for younger readers, “Drizzle” is about an eleven-year-old girl named Polly Peabody, who lives at her family’s world-famous magical rhubarb farm.

Jennifer Long, a girl from Polly's class does not like her and thinks that everything about her is weird, except her brother Freddy, who she has a crush on. Polly has literally no friends at school but she has a best friend named Harry, which is a rhubarb plant on her family’s unusual Midwestern rhubarb farm. Polly and Harry communicate. Harry nods when he agrees with her and swats her with his leaves when he is angry and Polly can talk with the other bugs.

The most magical thing is every single Monday, at exactly 1:00 p.m. it rains. Also, some of their plants in their rhubarb farm taste like chocolate. One day, her Aunt Edith, shows Polly a secret room with bugs that fly in patterns and spells out words.

Until suddenly the weekly rain stops and plants starts to die. Polly’s seventeen year old brother, Freddie has a mysterious illness. Now, Polly has to make it starts raining again before it’s too late for her brother’s life and the survival of all of the plants and her family’s future.

Polly's gradual discovery of her own strange power and the joy she takes in her ability to help those she loves best is both entertaining and gratifying. Does Polly have the power to save them? Let's find out.....“Drizzle” is a fantasy book that will take 5th through 8th graders on a magical adventure.

Ms. DeMarco Van Cleve leaves in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her family.

E.I. Would you share some early self-reflection to give us a sense of who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Give your readers three “Good to Know” facts about your first job experience, the inspiration for your writing career, any fun details or anecdotes that would enliven your page. Also tell us about Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve today -- the woman behind the screenplay, film producer and award-winning author of 2 adult fiction novels and author of the children book “Drizzle”?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: Ah, self-reflection. As a pre-teen, I was a geek with thick glasses and braces who was always, literally always, reading. As a teen, I had contacts and straightened teeth and discovered boys - well rather, they discovered me. (I always knew they were around.) I still read a lot, but I was definitely distracted.

Besides reading, the one thing that "defined" me (and other members of my hometown) growing up was blueberries. Specifically, the fact that I grew up in Hammonton, NJ, the "blueberry capital of the world." (No joke.) My family owned a blueberry (and cranberry) farm in the Pine Barrens of NJ, and my mother insisted that my three siblings and myself would work there every single summer until we were 18. By 5, we were picking blueberries in the field; by 12, we were "packing" blueberries in the shed (meaning that we would put the cellophane on top of the cardboard pints for packaging... now it's all been replaced with plastic containers). We would also watch the cranberry harvest in the fall - my mother would have made us work there too, but we had school.

My childhood spent on our family farm has become a major theme in all my writing. Adding to this was that our farm was in NJ, which everyone - outside of people from my southern area of the state - sees as either a massive turnpike or toxic waste dump. From my perspective, it is neither, and the beauty of my hometown's farms was something I wanted to extol in my writing.

Fun Facts: (1) I was New Jersey's 1982 Blueberry Queen. (2) I never liked blueberries growing up, and preferred to eat at McDonalds. (3) I'm an avid Philadelphia sports team fan, particularly the Philadelphia Eagles, and am crushed when my oldest son - age six - tells me he wants to root for the Dallas Cowboys.

One more thing: I started teaching creative writing at the age of 40, and besides becoming a parent, it has been the most rewarding, delightful, fun experience in my life.

Oops. One final thing. I love being a wife and mom. Love it more than I could ever possibly have imagined.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing screenplay and children’s book that enchants you, and gives you the enduring passion to continue in such a demanding profession?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: Well, first of all, I'm not really good at anything else, which kind of limits my chances of success in other fields. More importantly, there isn't anything I DON'T find enchanting about writing and storytelling. What other profession allows one to imagine literally anything and put it in narrative form? In other words, I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world that at 44, I can spend my days dreaming up chocolate rhubarb and spelling dragonflies and actually make an (admittedly small) living from it. Screenwriting to me is just another venue to communicate one's imagination - one that has its own "rules", for sure, but none that inhibit the fundamentals of telling a good story.

E.I. Please tell your young readers about your book “Drizzle.” What was it that sparked your imagination? What were your favorite aspects about this book?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: Drizzle tells the story of eleven year-old Polly Peabody, who lives on her family's famous (and magical) rhubarb farm. Some of the rhubarb tastes like chocolate, diamonds pop out of the ground, and it rains every Monday at one o'clock... until the one Monday when it doesn't rain, and Polly has to figure out what has happened.

My favorite aspect of Drizzle is the combination of "real" and "magic." I was always drawn to stories like Charlotte’s Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – when the “real” world (Zuckerman’s farm, London) mixed with the “magic” world (talking pigs and spiders, Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and the Oompa Loompas). This is exactly what I was going for with Drizzle – to create a very real world for an eleven year old girl, complete with school bullies and mean older sisters, mixed with a completely plausible magic world – a farm with communicating plants and enchanted lakes, etc.

I also love the “supporting” characters of Drizzle: Beatrice, Owen, Ophelia – they were so fun to write. And I love writing about the joy of being outside, and the idea that “nature does nothing in vain” – that we are, and should be, powerless against nature.

E.I. How do you weave so much information while writing and creating the character ‘Polly Peabody’ and yet you keep her so fast-paced and interesting? Did you work her out in advance, or did she evolve as you wrote the story?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: What a kind thing to say! Thank you! Perhaps the most challenging aspect of Drizzle was detailing the “magic” nature of the farm while pushing the plot along. Since this is a first person present novel, all of this had to be expressed via Polly – and it was very, very, very (did I say very?) difficult. Her voice was always clear to me – but the explication of the farm’s magic was only achieved through thousands of revisions and the very close attention of my editor.

E.I. You've created a cast of so remarkably captivating and really fun characters: Polly, Freddie, Patricia, Aunt Edith, Jennifer Jong, Christina, George, Beatrice and Ophelia that your readers definitely clamor for more; how did you decide what level of details your readers will accept? How does your creative process work?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: Thank you again. (I will always do interviews for you!) I have to admit I didn’t spend a lot of time wondering what the readers would “accept” – it was more about making the people that existed so clearly in my mind come alive on the page. I assumed that if I could capture even a fraction of, say, Jennifer Jong’s meanness or Ophelia’s whimsy, it would work.

Re: creative process. I’m still figuring this out, actually, but I’ve begun to realize that I’m the kind of writer who needs to just sit at a computer and write, with perhaps only an idea or a character in mind, and then see what happens as I type. It’s only after a complete first draft that I discover the “theme” of the story and then I can go back in and revise to make it crafted. It’s the hardest part for me, but also the most exciting. I watched Elizabeth Gilbert (author of EAT PRAY LOVE) talk once about how the writer’s job is showing up (i.e., getting in the chair) and the “muse’s” job is to appear and help out. (I’m paraphrasing here.) I think I know what she was getting at – in that I can’t control what happens in that first spark of connection between my creative brain and the page. I just start to type, and the story and characters unfold, and then, after I print out the pages and can go back and read what’s there, then the craft part of writing takes over. But the most important thing is to show up: to sit in the chair.

E.I. How did you pull in the reader into Polly’s life, living her life hour after hour as she deals with the magical events in the farm and the illness of Freddie that follows?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: I have two brothers whom I absolutely adore. I also was lucky enough to grow up on a farm that I loved. It was relatively easy – but emotionally painful – to envision a situation where my brothers were sick and I wanted to do something to make them healthy, just as it was easy/painful to imagine our farm withering without rain.

E.I. How do you imagine audience as you are writing? Do you try to do character development, chapter outlines, various novel-related brainstorming? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story boards all over your walls?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: Again – and perhaps I should rethink this – but I don’t really think about the audience as I’m writing, except in the more general “will anyone like this? What am I doing? Perhaps I should be an accountant?” kind of way. The one thing I try to do is read as many middle grade and young adult books as I can. This is my way, I think, of learning what is out there and being well received by kids. For example, I read Gennifer Cholodenko’s AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS about three thousand times while writing Drizzle, since it was also a first person present novel. It is also a master class in writing for middle graders. I tried to examine why it was that Moose Flanagan was such a delightful protagonist, and then incorporate some of that with Polly. I’d also read other masterpieces: CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and THE GIVER and BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA and THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN (for only a few examples) just to give me that “running start” to going back and trying to improve Polly’s story.

I should also add that I am, fundamentally, a reader. Most of the time, I don’t read as a writer –I read as the little bespectacled geeky girl I was, gulping books like water. That’s the kind of person I’m trying to reach when I write my own stuff.

I don’t have sheets of newsprint… but I do have index cards taped up all over, with random sections/selections from novels I like. Even when I’m not in the middle of a project, I like to read (and reread) these quotes … they always make me smile in awe, and admiration.

E.I. How many years of research did you do pertaining to the creation of a magical farm which is a totally different enchanted world run by plants and bugs? How did you overcome these challenges?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: I had to do a lot of research about rhubarb, since I knew basically nothing about that plant. I wrote Drizzle over three and a half years, and certainly I spent a lot of that time discovering specific rhubarb traits like the oxyalic acid on rhubarb leaves and how it can be used to combat the CFC’s in the ozone. I also did a lot of research about genetics and the water cycle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, since those are all important threads in the novel. But writing about growing up on a farm, perse, was not that difficult: there are many autobiographical details in Rupert’s Rhubarb Farm that come from my childhood spent on a blueberry and cranberry farm. Plus, as I said earlier, I really do think our real farm was “magical” even though we didn’t have the magic bugs or talking plants.

E.I. Do you take the view from the perspective of a woman who grew up in a farm, or do you see yourself as an objective observer, while writing “Drizzle”?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: Absolutely, 100% the former. I think it’s obvious (!) from these answers that I was anything but an objective observer about Polly, her family’s farm, or anything else she encounters in her story.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from “Drizzle” is there one that you would personally select to share with your fans? And why?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: If it didn’t give away the ending, I’d read the seven paragraphs of the novel, since I love what it says about Polly’s growth and her state of mind at the end of her story. Besides the last line of the novel (which I can’t reveal here!), I do have three other favorite lines:

p. 263
“But parents are just people. Tall third graders. It’s hard to find balance between your own stuff and your children – and the whole time you just watch as they grow up and you have to accept that they’re a whole different person than you are. It’s hard. You plant watermelons, out grows broccoli.”

p. 352“I’ve learned something during this process. No one, absolutely no one, suspects than an eleven-year-old girl is capable of anything.”

p. 249 and again on p. 357
“There’s a feeling you get when you achieve something all by yourself that will bring you more peace and contentment than anything money or love can provide. It is at that moment when you can look around and say “I did it” – and know no one can take it away from you.”

E.I. If you were allowed total control of the Hollywood version of “Drizzle” who would be in it? And in your opinion who do you think should direct?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: I love this question!

Directors: Peter Weir, Robert Zemeckis, Guillermo Del Toro, David Yates, Alfonso Cuaron, Alexander Payne, Mo Ogrodnik, Tim Burton, Stephen Spielberg (oh please, please, please!).

Actors: I think Polly (and her peers) would be portrayed by young actors new on the scene… but re: adult roles…
Aunt Edith: Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Helen Mirren
Owen: Owen Wilson (who was always the guy I pictured as I wrote him)
Ophelia: Emma Thompson, Diane Keaton,
Christina: Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock,

E.I. And finally what’s next with Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve? Can you give your fans a sneak peek about your upcoming book?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: I am having a terrific time with my new story… about a 12 (perhaps 11?) year old boy named Ike, who desperately wants to be on his town’s summer basketball team, but alas, Ike is very short for his age. He is also a gifted piano player, although his teacher… the very sweet-seeming Mrs. Johnson, may also be a very petty, very sinister, witch. The working title is SMALL TOWN GODS, but that may change.

E.I. Ms. DeMarco Van Cleve, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve: At the risk of telling them something they already know: read! Read anything you can. Also eat cupcakes. And finally, take notes: I’m still learning how to do this with consistency, but it’s impossible to remember every detail that you may consider a potential story idea/character trait, etc.


To learn more about Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve, please visit her website
Photo of Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve, by Emory Van Cleve
To purchase her books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

The Grease Monkey's Tale - on sale now!

It's on.
Get your copy now ... if you dare.

One!

Only one day to go until The Grease Monkey's Tale is unleashed

at a book shop near you

or an online bookstore, at least.

Here's a tremendous video

(great photography, great song, great performers

- Mary J. Blige and U2)

to mark the one-ness of today.

Kick back, relax, enjoy.

Two!

Two days until book shops across Britain

throw open their doors

to the shimmer of

dirty chrome spanners

on an oily black background

and the contrast of a single red rose.

Three!

In free days

the cage'll be opened.

Mystery, romance and friller
out in the wild!

Have listened to a fair bit of Cat Power's album You Are Free

while working on The Grease Monkey's Tale,

so extra appropriate to play this track here.

Four!

Four days and counting.

And, in need of something a little mellow

to stave off the excitement,

what better way to mark this day than

Four by Miles Davies

played by Peanuts and Kirk Whalum?

Music to listen to
as you
open another tab
on your browser,

select your favourite online bookseller -

Amazon, Fishpond, PaperBooks, Books Etc, etc, etc -

tug out your credit card

and pre-order your copy of...

The Grease Monkey's Tale

(where a lone saxophonist features briefly, I might add).

FEATURED AUTHOR: Brian Selznick - New York Time Bestselling & Award-Winning Author of “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”

Brian Selznick, born in July 14th, 1966 in Brunswick, New Jersey is an author and an illustrator of children’s books and young adult books. He is the author of "The Invention of Hugo Cabret".

He graduated at The Rhode Island School of Design and worked at Eeyore’s Books for Children in Manhattan, after graduation where he learned all about children’s books from his boss Steve Geck who is now an editor of children’s books at Greenwillow.

His grandfather was a first cousin of David O. Selznick an American film producer. He is best known for producing Gone with the Wind.

Brian Selznick first book, The Houdini Box, about a boy who almost meets the great magician which Mr. Selznick also illustrated, was published in 1991 while he was still working at Eeyore’s bookstore. The book, won the Texas Bluebonnet Award and the Rhode Island Children’s Book Awards for. His other books are: The Boy of a Thousand Faces, but The Invention of Hugo Cabret is by far the longest and most involved book he’ve ever worked on. His obsessions with old French movies, clockworks, mechanical figures and the filmmaker Georges Méliès inspired him to write the book, “Hugo.”

The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been awarded the 2008 Caldecott medal. It also was named a finalist for the 2007 National Book Awards in the Young People's Literature and won the Quill Award in the Children's Chapter/Middle Grade category. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which has been a New York Times #1 Bestseller, was named one of the New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books of the Year.

Academy award-winning director, Martin Scorsese’s will be making his first children’s movie base on "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." But just how child-friendly this movie will be is entirely up to Mr. Scorsese’s. He admits, he does not abide by any rules of genre, let alone his own. The media has said that Martin Scorsese, suggests that he’ll make the leap to 3D with The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It’ll be the first time for the Oscar winning director, Martin Scorsese will directly aimed and marketed towards young kids movie.

The historical fiction book, which is set in 1930’s Paris tells the story of a 12 year old orphan, clock keeper, Hugo who is also a thief. The boy lives in the walls of a Parisian train station. Suddenly Hugo’s lives interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station. Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

The cast would be Academy award-winning actor, Ben Kingsley is being cast Georges Melies, a famous silent filmmaker with a pivotal role in the story. English actor, comedian, and writer, Sacha Baron Cohen, best known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictitious characters, Ali G, Borat and Brüno step into the role of the station inspector.

As for the two lead children,, Chloe Moretz from the movie Kick-Ass, will play Isabelle and English child actor, Asa Butterfield known for his role “Nanny McPhee” a movie with Emma Thompson, will be playing the role of Hugo.

Brian Selznick also illustrated many books for children, including Frindle by Andrew Clements which won Christopher Award. The Doll People which is a trilogy by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Muñoz Ryan and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, received a 2001 Caldecott Honor.

Mr. Selznick have one sister who is a teacher, and a brother who is a brain surgeon. He also have five nephews and one niece. Brian Selznick divides his time between Brooklyn, New York, and San Diego, California.

To learn more about Brian Selznick, please visit his website
To purchase his books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Nobles

Five Days and Counting...

It's five days until The Grease Monkey's Tale is released.

Makes it sound like a wild animal is about to be let loose on an unsuspecting public.

And maybe it is.

Nonetheless, the countdown has begun.

I know I used this clip with The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore

and that it had little to do with what that novel was about,

as it has little to do with what this one is about,

but nonetheless...

UPCOMING INTERVIEW: Thomas Cobb - Award-Winning Author of "Crazy Heart"

Novelist, Thomas Cobb was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. He is the author of Crazy Heart, a novel, Acts of Contrition, a collection of short stories that won the 2002 George Garrett Fiction Prize and Shavetail.

Mr. Cobb, a former-country-music-covering-journalist-from-Arizona turned writing-professor/author-living-in-Rhode Island with his wife. He now teaches English and creative writing at RIC, a public college in Providence where enrollment in his graduate fiction-writing workshop has blossomed since the film Crazy Heart release.

The novel, originally published in 1987, and it was Mr. Cobb’s doctoral dissertation. Mr. Cobb's adviser on the project: famed postmodernist author Donald Barthelme. The book only sold 11,000 copies before being pulled from print after initial buzz died down. Now, it's being reissued in paperback by publisher HarperCollins.

CRAZY HEART is a 2009 musical-drama film starring Jeff Bridges, which earned him his first Academy Award for Best Actor, Maggie Gyllenhaal was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Supporting roles are played by Golden Globe award-winning Irish actor, Colin Farrell, Academy award-winning & four times Golden Globe winning actor Robert Duvall, with child actor Jack Nation. Bridges, Farrell, and Mr. Duvall also sing in the film. The film was written and directed by Scott Cooper.

In the movie, Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, the protagonist of "Crazy Heart," A boozy, down-and-out country music singer-songwriter past-his-prime country star saddled with the indignity of playing backwater bowling alleys and opening for his former side man played by Collin Farrell.

He tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young journalist named Jean, portrayed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The film's main character is based on a combination of Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard. The media talk about Mr. Cooper initially wanted to do a biopic on Haggard but found the rights to his life story were too difficult to obtain. The novel on which the film was based was actually inspired by country singer Hank Thompson. The film has been described by critics as "half Urban Cowboy, half The Wrestler.

Thomas Cobb other book, Shavetail, was a winner of 2009 Spur Award for Best Western Long Novel. The novel is set in the desert of the Arizona territories in 1871. Shavetail is the story of Private Ned Thorne, a seventeen-year-old boy from Connecticut who has lied about his age to join the army.

On the run because of a shameful past, Ned is desperate to prove his worth—to his superiors, his family, and most of all, to himself. He is young and troubled; Ned is as stubborn as a shavetail, the soldiers’ term for a willful, untrained mule. After a band of Apaches attacks a nearby ranch, killing two men and, perhaps, kidnapping a woman,

Ned’s superiors, also seeking to atone for their mistakes, lead Ned and the rest of his company on a near suicidal mission through a particularly menacing stretch of desert and into Mexico in hopes of saving the woman’s life.

Photo of Mr. Thomas Cobb by Alberto E. Rodriguez
To learn more about Thomas Cobb, please visit his website
To purchase his books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

UPCOMING INTERVIEW: Barbie Latza Nadeau - Journalist for Newsweek, CNN & Author of Angel Face: The True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox

Barbie Latza Nadeau is an American journalist and the author of Angel Face: The True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox. Ms. Knox , is the American university exchange student convicted of the murder of her roommate, an English exchange student, Meredith Kercher, by Italian criminal courts in December 2009.

Amanda Knox a fresh-faced honor student from Seattle who met anyone’s definition of an all-American girl—attractive, athletic, smart, hard-working, adventure some, in love with languages and travel is known as Foxy Knoxy, has proclaimed her innocence ahead of her trial for the murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy.

The murder took place in Perugia, Italy, where both girls were studying abroad. The case, with its suggestions of ritual sexual violence, and Knox’s bizarre behavior throughout the investigation and trial transfixed the Italian media.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, a Rome-based Daily Beast senior writer cultivated personal relationships with the key figures in both the prosecution and the defense – describes how the Knox family’s heavy-handed efforts to control media coverage distorted the facts, inflamed an American audience, and painted an offensive, inaccurate picture of Italy’s justice system. An eye-opener for any parent considering sending a child away to study, Angel Face reveals what really went on in this incomprehensible crime.

Barbie Latza Nadeau reports for a variety of publications: Newsweek, The Daily Beast, CNN Traveller Magazine, Delta Sky Magazine, Budget Travel, Frommer's and Globe Pequot Press. She makes frequent broadcast appearances on BBC, NPR, NBC, CBS, FOX and Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO TV.

Photo of Amanda Knox by Pier Paolo Cito
To learn more about Barbie Latza Nadeau, please visit her website
To purchase her book, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

First edition of The Grease Monkey's Tale - hot off the press

Great to see that the first copies of The Grease Monkey's Tale have arrived at the offices of Legend Press and PaperBooks.  Printed and bound and ready to be released in the UK.  Very, very, very exciting!  Have received heaps of positive comments about the cover design - and it is a stunner - so hope that will translate into people picking up the book and reading it... and ENJOYING it (of course) so much they recommend it to all their friends and buy more copies as birthday presents, Christmas presents, Father's day gifts, etc, etc.

Last weekend was a long (public holiday) weekend, so I had extra time to work on Number Three and Four.  Also put a good few hours into trying to resolve Actionscript problems with the new website I'm creating.  (Ten months ago, I thought developing a Flash website was only going to take me two months.  Hmm.) 

It was a cold, wet weekend - it being winter - but good to get out and about, and to spend time at the opening of the Blarney Books & Art 2010 Biblio-Art Competition amongst other things.  A packed and very popular opening with a fantastic exhibition of entries.  If you're likely to be visiting Port Fairy this winter, I strongly recommend dropping in to Blarney Books & Art and having a browse.  Am delighted to be able to give it a plug here.

INTERVIEW: Cynthia Jaynes Omololu - Author of YA Novel "Dirty Little Secrets"

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Cynthia Jaynes Omololu. She was born in New Jersey, but grew up in San Diego, California. She majored in English at U.C. Santa Barbara. The best part of her college was living in Scotland for a year.

She met some amazing people in Scotland who she still consider some of her best friends all these years.

She’s the author of two YA adult books: “When It's Six O'clock in San Francisco” and her latest novel “Dirty Little Secrets.”

Dirty Little Secrets is novel that deals with compulsive hoarding and its affect on a child's life.

The book tells the story of a girl forced to make an agonizing decision in this nicely realized page-turner. Sixteen-year-old Lucy has been painfully isolated from her peers for years, refusing to let anyone near her house lest they discover the towers of garbage and heaps of mold-encrusted dishes. This is a mind-blowingly intense novel.

Ms. Omololu’s leaves in Northern California with her husband and two sons.

E.I. Would you share some early self-reflection to give us a sense of who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Give your readers three “Good to Know” facts about your first job experience, the inspiration for your writing career, any fun details or anecdotes that would enliven your page. Also tell us about Cynthia Jaynes Omololu today -- the woman behind the author.

CJ Omololu: My two best friends in high school became cheerleaders and homecoming queens. I felt like I couldn’t compete with that, so I dyed my hair black and started hanging out with musicians downtown. I recently found my senior yearbook and there were two signatures in it, which didn’t bother me at the time, but now I find sort of sad.

I got my first real job as a junior in high school. It was working in City Hall in our small seaside town, doing administrative stuff. That first experience pretty much inspired me to not want to work in an office if I could help it in the future. I’ve been a lot of things (several of them office jobs) in my life before I discovered that I was actually good at something. I’ve worked for a travel agency, a weekly newspaper, a fashion designer, as a waitress and a barista before Starbucks existed. I spent my life looking for the job I have today.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing YA novels entirely that enchants you, and gives you the enduring passion to continue in such a demanding profession?

CJ Omololu: I love writing about a time in my own life that was full of conflict and confusion. Those years are so formative, and it’s interesting to me that the people who look like they have it together in their teens don’t necessarily do the best as adults. The stories that come to me so far have all had teenage voices, so that’s what I write. The children’s and young adult writing community is so supportive, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

E.I. Please tell your young readers about your novel “Dirty Little Secrets.” What was it that sparked your imagination? What were your favorite aspects about this book?

CJ Omololu: I read a magazine article about adults who had grown up in hoarded homes and that got me thinking what their childhoods must have been like. I feel that all of the characters are multi-dimensional – I made a real effort to have Lucy’s mother seem like a real person and not just a monster.

E.I. How do you weave so much information while writing and creating the character ‘Lucy Anne Thompkins’ and yet you keep her so fast-paced and interesting? Did you work her out in advance, or did she evolve as you wrote the story?

CJ Omololu: Thanks for saying that! Lucy came to me pretty fully formed, although I found out a lot about her as I worked. I try to cut anything that doesn’t add something significant to the story.

E.I. You've created a cast of so remarkably captivating and really fun characters: Lucy, Joanna, Kaylie, Josh Lee, Sara and Phil that your readers definitely clamor for more; how did you decide what level of details your readers will accept? How does your creative process work?

CJ Omololu: I didn’t really think about that in advance – I guess I write the book that I’d like to read. When I come up with an idea, I let it stew for a month or two. When the characters start talking to me, I know it’s time to start writing. I use a very loose, 9 step outline (I’ve got a post on how I do that on my blog) and then just start writing. Fiction for me is just the process of writing down the ‘movie’ that is going on in my head, so I start writing with the first scene and go until it ends.

E.I. How did you pull in the reader into Lucy's life, living her life hour after hour as she deals with the tremendous hardships of her mother's hoarding and the tragedy that follows.

CJ Omololu: When I started the book, I wasn’t sure what the format would be, but I realized pretty quickly that it would take place in a short period of time. I basically just followed along as she dealt with what happened.

E.I. Have you witnessed hoarding in your life, but never thought of it as a disease until you wrote this novel? I’m sure your audience felt so bad for Lucy’s life. I know that this is fiction but in reality a child should never have to go through that.

CJ Omololu: Great question, and the answer is yes. We used to joke about the mess and all the belongings without understanding that it was a disorder that actually had a name. I didn’t grow up like Lucy did, but unfortunately, many kids have. I have the emails to prove it, and each one breaks my heart. I have a lot of resources on my website, including www.childrenofhoarders.com, which is one of the best places to start for someone who has a hoarding problem in the family.

E.I. Can you explain the difference between a packrat and a compulsive hoarder?

CJ Omololu: Semantics. Hoarder is a pretty recent term for what people used to call packrats. My test for hoarding is if the person can get rid of things, either by giving them away, recycling or just putting things in the trash then they’re probably going to be okay. If they always come up with excuses as to why things could be useful to someone, then they might have a problem.

E.I. Does a hoarder spends money on lockers or additional storage space, and is filling up their car with possessions because they've run out of room in the house?

CJ Omololu: Absolutely – that is classic hoarding behavior. I know one hoarder who has purchased three homes that are now full of possessions.

E.I. Are people born compulsive hoarders, or do they become them?
CJ Omololu: There is just starting to be a lot of research on this disorder, so there isn’t a clear picture of a typical hoarder at this point. There does seem to be an element of OCD that many hoarders show early in their lives. Contrary to what it might seem, hoarding can often come from perfectionist tendencies – they don’t want to get rid of things that might be useful in the future. Hoarding does seem to get worse as people get older or have a traumatic event happen in their lives like a death or divorce.

E.I. Do hoarders tend to collect different things, or are there commonalities among hoarders?

CJ Omololu: For a disorder that has been so secretive, hoarders do tend to collect similar things. If you watch the hoarding shows you will see a lot of newspaper and magazines, books, clothes and toys (even if they don’t have kids).

E.I. Do people ever go back and read the newspapers or magazines they've saved? Can you explain what it's called churning? Which I guess one of hoarders habits?

CJ Omololu: While I can’t speak for all hoarders, I doubt that most of them go back over newspapers and magazines. They tend to save them ‘just in case’ they might need them someday. Churning is when a hoarder is trying to deal with the mess, but they are really just moving items from one location to another – not actually getting rid of anything. They may start to tackle a stack of magazines, only to realize that they might need an article in every copy and end up stacking them somewhere else.

E.I. Some people hoard animals. Is that related to compulsive hoarding? Some people will say, "A stray came to my door, how could I turn it away?" It's the same kind of thing -- they think," Everything is important.

CJ Omololu: There is a similar disorder called animal hoarding where people collect dogs, cats and other pets, but I didn’t include that aspect of hoarding in my book. Hoarders tend to put an abnormal amount of emotional attachment to things, and animal hoarders do this to pets. Even though they may have many more animals than is safe or sanitary, they can’t part with any of them, even if they know they are going to good homes. I foster kittens for our local animal shelter. Every year we have about 20 kittens come through our house (in twos and threes) and each and every one is special, but when it’s time, we give them back to the shelter so that they can find their ‘forever’ homes.

E.I. What are some of the factors that can lead to someone becoming a hoarder? Are some people predisposed to collect things? Men vs. women, old vs. young, rich vs. poor?

CJ Omololu: Hoarding is one of the great equalizers. At this point, it does seem to affect more women than men, but we are just starting to get a better picture of the disorder. You don’t need money to be a hoarder – many hoarders love garage sales and dumpsters for their treasures.

E.I. How many years of research did you do about hoarders to make your novel realistic? How did you overcome these challenges?

CJ. Omololu: When I wrote the book back in 2008, there weren’t many TV shows on hoarding and it wasn’t talked about too much. Once I got the idea, I Googled ‘hoarding’ and found the website Children of Hoarders. Through that site, I found three women who worked very closely with me to get the details right. They would tell me stories and read parts of the book as I wrote to give me pointers. I’ve had people who grew up in situations similar to Lucy’s in my story tell me it was like I had a camera trained on their lives. That is the best possible compliment I can get.

E.I. And finally what’s next with Cynthia Jaynes Omololu? Can you give your fans a sneak peek about your upcoming book?

CJ Omololu: I’m just finishing a book that is very different from DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS – a bit lighter, with more romance. I felt like I needed a little break from such heavy subjects. I do have some more “issue” books waiting to be written, so I’ll probably come back to writing important issues soon. People can watch the blog at www.cynjay.blogspot.com for updates and news.

E.I. Ms. Omololu, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

CJ Omololu: Thank you! It’s been great. People told me in high school that I was a good writer, but I really didn’t pay attention and I was well into adulthood before it even occurred to me to write books. If you love writing, keep at it and don’t be afraid to share your work with other writers. Almost every writer has several ‘practice’ books in a drawer somewhere (and those who don’t, we don’t talk to) so don’t give up if your first novel isn’t perfect. It’s a long learning curve, but the rewards are awesome.

Photo of Cynthia Jaynes Omololu courtesy of the author.
To learn more about Cynthia Jaynes Omololu, please visit her website
To purchase her books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

INTERVIEW: John Michael Cummings - Award-Winning Author of "The Night I Freed John Brown"

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with the Award-winning author, John Michael Cummings. He is born 1963 in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. He holds a B.A. in Art/Graphic Design from George Mason University.

He was a reporter for Times Community Newspapers March 1989 — August 1991. He reported business news for The Reston Times.

His short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Chattahoochee Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Iowa Review.

He was twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. His short story “The Scratchboard Project” received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007. He is also the Newberry Honor recipient Ruth White award and Poet Laurete Fred Chappell award.

His novella The House of My Father, from which his debut novel was adapted, was a finalist in the 2006 Miami University Novella Contest. His other novella Chimney Rock was a Semi-finalist ,Winnow Press 2004 First Book Award for Fiction.

The Night I Freed John Brown is Mr. Cummings' powerful first novel for young readers and the Winner of the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People

E.I. Would you share some early self-reflection to give us a sense of who you were as a teenager? What were you like?

John Michael Cummings: Shy, a little huffy, and very lost. That was me in my teens. God, not by choice, though. I so wanted to be happy and popular. But I couldn't find my smile, couldn't feel right around others, always felt small and less than enough. Inferior, in other words. Yikes! Those were terrible years.

Should I say why they were? My counselor provides an answer: a critical father.

But there was another side to me then despite him. I wrote 20-page love letters to a particular girl--nightly! She always said I would be a writer.

Or I stood in the town phone booth all evening long waiting for her to call; we didn't have a phone in my house, and by ringing the phone booth once, she would signal me to call her. (Phone booths allowed incoming calls then.) She had a house full of sisters, so her phone was always busy. Timing was everything.

So as knotted up as I was in crowds, I was a giant of devotion for this girl.

E.I. Give your readers three “Good to Know” facts about your first job experience.

John Michael Cummings: I was fired--fired because I kept making eyes at the waitress. I was a dishwasher, and I couldn't stop looking at her--fired, mind you, because the owner had a bigger thing going on with her. Maybe she liked the attention from a boy, and that infuriated him.

He died soon after he fired me. I always thought it was the food that killed him. It was a diner in West Virginia, after all. Need I say more about the food?

So I was a terrible dishwasher, but I knew a beautiful face when I saw it. That's my first job experience.

E.I. Tell, the inspiration for your writing career, any fun details or anecdotes that would enliven your page.

John Michael Cummings: Inspiration for writing has always come from joy, pain, and the curiosity in between. I write to capture the emotions that press against the lid of my head like a volcano. It's hard work, getting the words right. The fewest words, all of them dead on. But only language can answer the cry for understanding in us, and language, like us, is limitless.

Fun anecdotes? Me have fun? Never. Just kidding. Twice I drove up to John Updike's mansion in Massachusetts and left my manuscripts at his door, with a letter imploring him to read them. Twice he sent his Rottweilers after me down the driveway. Just kidding about the Rottweilers. Once, though, he did write back. "...nice touches," he said. "Try to create more curiosity. Keep writing, but don't keep sending your work to me. You need an editor. I'm a dead-end," he wrote.

John Updike a dead-end?

Rest his soul. I assumed he was too smart to smoke.

E.I. Also tell us about John Michael Cummings today -- the man behind the author.

John Michael Cummings has never been happier. He left New York City last July and is well on his way to the life he's always wanted--full of friends, love, and good writing.

I just finished a stint teaching college prep English and am about to embark on my master's degrees in creative writing at University of Central Florida. Go Knights! (No, I am not drinking a wine cooler right now.)

The man behind the author? Hmm... That is journey, isn't it? To realize the man behind the author. The new Christian. The loving boyfriend. The father figure. The decent neighbor. The good employee. The commuter. The smart shopper. None of these hats seemed to have any color in New York. Now they're brilliant.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing that enchants you, and gives you the enduring passion to continue in such a demanding profession?

John Michael Cummings: "You'd probably die if you didn't write," my counselor once said.

That I'm telling you I have a counselor who's so intense to say this lets you know I'm not a pitted, sun-baked statue of a man, but a watery body, like a lake that ripples, mercurial with flitting fish.

A friend once said I had the head of a horse--sensitive. (I think this friend was drinking a wine cooler when he said this.)

Seriously, what enchants me about writing is the world of interactions, settings, and ideas that come to life on the page. Creation. Language has no limits. How can one not be psyched up by that?

E.I. Please tell your young readers about your novel “The Night I Freed John Brown.” What was it that sparked your imagination? What were your favorite aspects about this book?

John Michael Cummings: It's the story of a shy, mistreated boy growing up in the town where the controversial preacher-turned-revolutionary John Brown was captured in 1859 for his raid on a federal weapons depot. Brown believed he could free the slaves, and the guns at Harpers Ferry were to be the instruments of his change. Josh, in modern times, just wants to free himself, to belong to the community that lives in the historic town today. Being high on John Brown is one way to be with the in-crowd. It's a town where it's everything John Brown.

But Josh must battle his antisocial father and his way of clamping down on freedom.

The story's a modern-day parallel on the historic events at Harpers Ferry, a modern-day twist; Josh feels as liberated by John Brown as the slaves did a 150 years before him.

Imagination was not needed as much as a dramatic autobiographical treatment. I grew up in that stinking little historic tourist-trodden town I love so much. (I think I do need a wine cooler now.)

My favorite aspect was getting the novel published! That, and the gorgeous energy and details that my wonderful editor Patti Gauch lovingly and painstakingly helped me thread throughout it. Patti was the best! She made the novel twice as good as I could have ever made it without her.

I also had an excellent, outstanding, redoubtable agent: Jessica Regal. Jessica's phenom brilliance repeatedly shaped the book through critical stages. She's so young, but so good. It's scary!

Let me add that the novel took years! Five if it took one. Finding Jessica, revising. Finding Patti, revising again.

E.I. How do you weave so much fun of information while writing and creating the character ‘Josh’ and the metaphors involving John Brown? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story?

John Michael Cummings: Patti first said to me, "I like the last twenty-five pages. Rewrite the rest." Next question, as far as anything worked out in advance.

Everything evolved as the story was rewritten. Boy voice, vivid details, narrator's voice, pacing, tension, and the constant little reminders of the story's big and small promises of a payoff that is, I like to say, worthy of literature.

E.I. You've created a cast of remarkably captivating characters: Josh, his new friend Luke Richmond, Alex, Daniel, Father Ron, Bill Connors, Katie, his two brothers Jerry & Robbie that your readers definitely clamor for more; how did you decide what level of details your readers will accept? How does your creative process work?

John Michael Cummings: Saying as much as possible in the fewest words was our motto. Letting no character be thin or weak seemed to be our next standard. Again, I drew from people I knew, so there was a direct line in the writing process to actual people. That is the key to real and memorable characters, I feel.

Level of details--what a challenge. It's all about keeping the story moving forward, the bicycle pedals pumping--one pedal story, or plot, the other pedal language, neither causing the other to skip off the chain or to get clogged with sticks.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from “The Night I Freed John Brown” is there one that you would personally select to share with your fans? And why?

John Michael Cummings: The dedication and acknowledgments page. This novel came to fruition because of teamwork. That should never be forgotten or understated.

E.I. If you were allowed total control of the Hollywood version of “The Night I Freed John Brown” who would be in it? And in your opinion who do you think should direct?

John Michael Cummings: I would like Richard Thomas to narrate the audio book. Maybe the actor Richard Boone of the sixties or seventies could play the fierce father. Elijah Wood could play our young hero. How about Anthony Mann or John Sturges as director. (Jessica, are you reading? Sell the movie rights, please!)

E.I. How do you imagine audience as you are writing? Do you try to do character development, chapter outlines, various novel-related brainstorming? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story boards all over your walls?

John Michael Cummings: I work on the page and hold my plans in my head and heart. I do use a simple notebook for ideas and especially for dialogue. But I am not messy with papers lying about. My filing cabinet is my heart.

E.I. And finally, when you finish a novel, it's off to your agent and publisher, then you're on to the next. Do you find letting your manuscripts, especially your characters, as easy to part with when finished?

John Michael Cummings: Not so difficult to let finished works go. By the time I have reread and polished them enough, I'm looking forward to new terrain.

E.I. Mr. Cummings, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers all over the world?

John Michael Cummings: Uh, buy my novel? Also, find a good shrink. Finally, love what you do, and do your best. Have guts and stamina. You're special. Make sure your writing is too.

Photo of John Michael Cummings, courtesy of the author.
To purchase his book, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble.

INTERVIEW: Susan Merson, Award-Winning Actress, original cast longest running Off Broadway Play VANITIES & Author of "Dreaming in Daylight"

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with SUSAN MERSON. She is an award winning actress, writer and theatre producer and author of “Dreaming in Daylight.” She began her career as an actress in New York starring in such Off Broadway hits as the original company of Jack Heifner’s VANITIES. She spends time on Broadway under the direction of Franco Zefirelli, regional theatre and in Off Off Broadway developmental work.

She relocated to Los Angeles where her acting career has included television and film work: Totsie w/ Dustin Hoffman & Jessica Lange, Absolute Stranger w/ Henry Winkler, Lost In Yonkers w/ Richard Dreyfus, Things To Do In Denver w/ Andy Garcia & Jenny McCarthy & Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machine w Arnold Schwarzenegger & Linda Hamilton. Her television work last season was on GREY’S ANATOMY and MONK.

She co-founded the LA Writers Bloc with director/writer Jane Anderson, has developed all of her plays at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in NY and LA., and has toured her eight solo plays across North America, Europe and Israel. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

She has served as Resident Playwright for the Jewish Women’s Theatre Project, Literary Manager of the Ensemble Studio Theatre and worked as a reader for such companies as Fogwood Films, TNT, Polygram among many others. She currently teaches Playwrighting at Cal State Fullerton. Her plays—one of which (HAIR: A REMINISCENCE) is a 2007 Heideman Award finalist at Louisville-- have been seen at theatres across the US and Canada.

Ms. Merson’s screenplay “BOUNTY OF LACE” a full length about contemporary Israel and Palestine won the Religion and Theatre Award at the 2008 At the Conference and was produced in Chicago at the Halcyon Theatre as part of the Alcyone Festival. THE WHITE BIRCHES (Amazon Shorts), a ten-minute piece, was done at the At the conference in Denver 2008.

She currently sits on the NY Board of the Ensemble Studio Theatre, leading the NY ARTS/ EST/ SUMMER CONSERVATORY PROGRAM. THE MARRIAGE SUITE , her newest play, is slated for a fall production at Theatricum Botanicum. She was at work shopped at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and has written and performed eight solo performance pieces and

Her novel, “Dreaming In Daylight” and “YOUR NAME HERE; AN ACTOR WRITERS GUIDE TO SOLO PERFORMANCE is available in bookstores nationally.

E.I. Would you share some early self-reflection to give us a sense of who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Give your readers three “Good to Know” facts about your first job experience, the inspiration for your writing career, any fun details or anecdotes that would enliven your page. Furthermore, tell us about Susan Merson today -- the woman behind the award winning actress, writer, theatre producer, playwright and author?

Susan Merson: My goodness… hmmm. If I knew the answers to all those questions I wouldn’t have to keep writing, would I? Three Good to Knows… ummm…

1: Follow your heart,
2: There is no shame in earning a living and
3: Cultivate a good sense of humor.

On the front inside page of the Detroit News, Parade Magazine maybe when I was 11 or 12 there was a quote in frilly type face. It drew my eye and blew my mind.

Here’s a paraphrase.
Andre Gide said: “Look for your own. Do not do what someone else can do as well as you…. Look for your own and out of yourself create, you are the most irreplaceable of beings.”

I found that fact to be astonishing and if it was true, I thought, perhaps I had some work to do.

I have been reinventing myself yet again in the last couple of years, recovering from the death of my sweetheart husband after 27 years of marriage.

Returning to NYC after another life back in LA I am currently preparing the pilot summer for a new play intensive—THE NEW YORK ARTS SUMMER CONSERVATORY. We will spend six weeks working with about 19 students from the US, Europe and Asia on the art of collaboration and new play development. Challenging the student artists, Asking them to telling a story from start to finish as individuals and as part of a group. All of us learning to hone spontaneity, flexibility, outside the box thinking. I can’t wait.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing that enchants you, and gives you the enduring passion to continue in such a demanding profession?

Susan Merson: Writing is part of the picture for me as an artist. It is not that different from acting, truly—getting out of the way of your brain so that the craft that you have learned can handle the downloads. It is a private and very still enterprise. I don’t really have much choice. It’s part of what do.

E.I. Please tell your readers about your novel “Dreaming in Daylight?” What was it that sparked your imagination? What were your favorite aspects of the book? Did this aspect of the book pose a challenge for you?

Susan Merson: “DREAMING IN DAYLIGHT” was a project on my bucket list. I had never written long form fiction and wanted to see if I could shape a story that held the reader and create a world with which I was intimately familiar. Rosie is a bit of me, I suppose. She was a young girl trying to make sense of growing up in a world that gave off a fair amount of external but not a great deal of inner framework—or at least an inner framework that I could recognize and trust. I loved revisiting some of my childhood scenarios and see how they might play when I had the freedom to adjust them and play with character, time and space. I wanted to record certain experiences and certain people and was able, I hope, to pay homage to them without telling all their secrets.

EI. How do you weave so much information while writing and creating the character ‘Rosie’ growing up in New York Jewish home, and yet you keep her so fast-paced and interesting? Did you work her out in advance, or did she evolve as you wrote the story?

Susan Merson: Actually, she grew up in Detroit, and she grew up fast. Hence the fast pace of the book. I suppose there is some of the playwriting craft there as well, getting to the heat of a scene as fast as possible. I had a beginning point for Rosie and a place where I thought she would come to… but the journey unfolded as I wrote.

E.I. You've created a cast of so remarkably captivating characters: Rosie, Leo (Rosie’s dad) and Belle (Rosie’s mom) that your readers definitely clamor for more; how did you decide what level of details your readers will accept? How does your creative process work?

Susan Merson: Again, it is very much like acting. One places oneself in the situation and looks around, looks up and in and around the people who show up. What did they smell like? What were their loves and lives.. their favorite foods… all those specific details. Where are they coming from? Going to? Can’t really worry too much about what the readers accept. Though corny, the truth is that characters and situations have their own truth and the job of the artist is to tune into it and transmit it to the reader or viewer.

E.I. How did you pull in the reader into Rosie’s life, living her life day after day as she deals with the tremendous prejudice and hardship in her life?

Susan Merson: Rosie did it. Not me.

E.I. Do you take the view of a Jewish woman, or do you see
yourself as an objective observer, while writing Dreaming in Daylight?

Susan Merson: Well, I’m not an objective observer. I write from who I am. Sometimes a certain part of who I am may be leading the POV, but an artist filters through who they are and yes… I am a Jewish woman.

E.I. Your novel is a riveting work of fiction. What were for you the most haunting events in Rosie’s life?

Susan Merson: Thanks. I am pleased that the story held you tightly. I think the death of a parent, and the illness of a parent—those folks who are supposed to make you feel safe as a kid-- are the most traumatic. A kid needs to feel safe, somehow.. and if the parents are dealing with their own trauma—(which most parents do, they are people after all—)if the parents are in extremis then the kid has to adapt, survive and eventually thrive on her own merit.

E.I. And finally what’s next with Susan Merson? Can you give your fans a sneak peek about your upcoming book or play?

Susan Merson: I am actually working on a nonfiction piece about reclamation of body mind and spirit after the loss of my husband. I found that I needed to reconnect with myself somehow in my grief. I started with my body. As I got to know myself again, and began to release the pain that had stunned and paralyzed me, I found that my life could reopen in a challenging and exciting way. The work is pretty deep and the language rich. I so hope that it finds an audience. It is an important work for me.

E.I. Ms. Merson, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

Susan Merson: Rilke did it better: “Trust Life. Life is right in any case.”

Photo of Susan Merson, courtesy of the author.
To learn more about Susan Emerson, please visit her website.
To purchase her books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble