Interview with Kathleen Kole
First I’d like to say “thank you!” to Samantha for hosting my blog tour and having me here as a guest on Chick Lit Plus. …
Interview with Amanda Strong
What inspired you to write With Just One Click? The inspiration behind the novel was friends and friends of friends who have lived through similar situations.
There are three female leads in the story. Was it difficult writing from three different perspectives? I never felt writing from three different perspectives was difficult. The stories set them apart from one another and that helped me focus on each individual character without any confusion.
How did you write the different POV’s? Did you work on one woman at a time, or tackle them all together? This might some strange, but I wrote the book exactly how it’s published. I wrote the three different women, one after the other, and followed that routine for each chapter. As a writer, I wanted to see the progress of each character step by step. I wanted to be like the reader, following their development at the same time throughout the book, almost parallel stories synchronized on three tracks set to the same pace. I also didn’t want to leave a character for too long, because I believed it was very important to give each equal time and attention.
Out of the whole writing and publishing process, what did you find most difficult? When you’re independently publishing a novel, everything falls solely on your shoulders. Each decision has to be weighed carefully, because one mistake could derail your whole project. The attention to detail, and the specific choices you make as the one person who is responsible for this novel is time consuming, stressful, and shouldn’t be taken lightly. These reasons alone make the final preparations before officially publishing a book a difficult one.
Are you working on any other writing projects? I’ve written a few articles that have been published recently all revolving around social networking. I also have started an outline for the next novel, and hope to have that finished sometime next year.
Will you ever follow-up from the characters in With Just One Click? Many readers have asked me if I would be willing to write a sequel or follow-up to the book. I would never rule anything out, because I do feel these characters have many more things left in their stories to explore.
What do you think are some of the biggest benefits of having Facebook? First, I think the ability to reconnect with old friends is the number one benefit of Facebook. I also see Facebook as an amazing tool for businesses and even authors like myself. The ability to connect with an extraordinary amount of people at a time is an unbelievable advantage.
And what are some of the biggest downfalls or Facebook? Well, I think the biggest benefits of Facebook unfortunately cause the biggest downfalls. The ability to reach out to virtually anyone and check-in on what they are doing with their lives is sometimes too tempting to pass up. This curiosity can lead to infidelity and people spying on exes, just to name a few. Facebook doesn’t have many rules to live by so that point alone makes this type of communication dangerous and one where people need to be cautious.
Where would be your dream vacation? Turks-Caicos
What is your advice to aspiring writers? This is the best time to be a writer, because of the rise of self-publishing and the ability to connect with people you wouldn’t otherwise have known through social networking(ironic, I know). Take every opportunity, always believe in yourself, and accept criticism. As with everything, I believe you can never stop learning and trying to become better. Writing is like being an artist, it’s subjective and open to judgement, but with hard work and dedication the opportunities are endless.
Guest Post by Michele Gorman
Chick Lit Plus
Why self-publishing in the US
I thought long and hard before deciding to self-publish Single in the City in the US as an eBook. After all, the book was published by Penguin in the UK and many other countries in 2010. Penguin’s team helped make it a best-seller. Surely it’s better to go with a big publisher than to go it alone? If I’m not doing so, does it mean that I’m rejecting the big publishers, as many writers have recently done?
Not really. At least, not all of them. I loved working with Penguin UK. My editor Lydia Newhouse quickly became a friend (still is), listening to my suggestions and making sure the publication went smoothly. The sales team got the book into the major retailers and my PR Helen was superb, getting us widespread publicity.
I’m self-publishing because sometimes publishers have less faith in the books, and the readers, than we, the writers, do.
You see, when Caroline and I sold book rights to Penguin (UK), we held back the US rights. We did this because I wanted a US-based publisher for Single in the City’s American launch. After all the main character, Hannah, is American. There’s a strong theme about seeing London through rather baffled American eyes. Caroline and I thought that surely it was a great fit for the US market.
The US publishers we approached had a different point of view. They were all very nice about it but said that the book isn’t right for the American chick lit market. It’s set in London. Readers won’t identify with it, they concluded.
I disagree. Isn’t it a bit dismissive, and wrong, to suggest that American women can only be interested in books that literally reflect their own lives? If that were true then only mothers of homicidal children would buy We Need To Talk About Kevin, and nobody living outside the 19th Century would bother with Jane Eyre. These books gain wide readership because they deal with universal themes (nature versus nurture, the effects of parenting, family, belonging, love). Single in the City is about taking a chance and establishing a new life. More than 5 million young American women do that every year when they move cities. It’s a fish-out-of-water story. And it’s about finding your feet in life and love. These, too, are universal themes. Those US publishers sold chick lit fans short.
And that’s why I’m self-publishing. I believe it’s the right decision for this book in this market. Like Hannah, I’m taking a leap of faith.
Interview with Christine Schwab
How were you able to break into the fashion industry? Totally by accident. I never intended to work on TV. I was too shy! I started my own “day spa” before the word was coined and my publicist booked me on a morning show in LA with Regis Philbin, who gave me such a hard time because I was color coordinating him and he, being Regis, was determined to give me humorous grief. And the rest was history. I went on to do other shows, became a regular on the AM Los Angeles Show and when Regis moved to New York I became bi-coastal and worked with him for over 25 years! It took me forever to get over being shy and shaking in my boots, or high heels. I credit Regis for teaching me to think on my feet and be able to handle all the obstacles of live television. He is the best and I was lucky enough to learn from the best.
What have been some of your toughest assignments? Always make-overs. With make-overs for television the goal is to make the audience gasp when the split screen is revealed, and that means change. Even with an extensive phone interview, when a contestant winner is flown to New York, put in a nice hotel and chauffeured around the city it is overwhelming. Add to that a total change in hair, make-up and clothing and sometimes they love it and sometimes they can’t relate to the person looking back at them in the mirror. Example: I once had a woman who was going to a college reunion. She wanted to look sexy, which meant bare, cleavage, legs showing to her. But the caveat was that her figure needed covering. I feel sexy is not just about revealing, it’s an attitude. She didn’t agree and we butted heads from the get-go. I thought I was pretty good at convincing but she wasn’t buying any of it and yet I knew I couldn’t take her on morning TV with her boobs revealed like she wanted or her skirt slit up to her thighs. I dressed her in an outfit I felt was totally sexy and yet appropriate, the audience agreed, but she didn’t. We did get her to smile on camera (only because I tickled her back during the segment), but we decided we couldn’t let her talk, which is actually quite easy when you have two hosts and myself. It worked for TV. It didn’t work for her. I don’t think she’s a fan of mine but my job is based on what shows up on the television screen. And then there was the make over where we made over the husband, who then looked like a movie star and far younger than his wife. She fell in love with him all over again…I’m not sure he felt the same after all the attention he gathered from all the single ladies in the audience. It’s always a challenge.
What do you love most about your career? I love working with “real” people. Helping them. Sharing my knowledge with them. Making them achieve their potential. And now I’m loving sharing my story of overcoming adversity and watching the impact it has on others who are dealing with adversity. I love giving hope, whether it be in the form of a new hairdo or pair of eye glasses, or an attitude about dealing with life or health. I have an etched rock on my desk that says “Believe” and I do, everything and anything is possible as long as you believe it is. The rock reminds me when I forget. I also love live television. I love the spontaneity, the pressure of the immediate. It moves along and you have to move with it. After working on live TV it’s hard to do tape. Take after take, your advice sounds so redundant. Live means you have to get it right the first time, energy is high, stakes are higher. I love that challenge.
Who are some of your favorite celebrities that you have worked with? I am not a stylist for celebrities. But I have worked with so many on all the many television shows I have appeared on. Oprah saved my career on a crazy day I write about in my book where I did Live with Regis in the morning and then flew to Chicago to do Oprah in the afternoon…and was late for the show. Regis taught me humor and quick responses. Kathie Lee Gifford taught me the importance of never getting caught up in your own press. Kelly Ripa taught me to be more playful on TV. Rachael Ray taught me to be able to eat and talk at the same time…on TV. Diane Sawyer teaches me that older can look better. And Diane Keaton taught me that having your own style is what makes you smile. Brian Gumble made me realize I could still get my message across even though I was looking into the eyes of a gorgeous man. And Sharon Osbourne teaches me that saying what’s on your mind can work on TV.
What are a few fashion tips that you always rely on? Forget what is the “latest” and go with what works for you. Find your own style. Nobody loves fashion more than I do but I have learned that just because it has a designer tag or is the “must have” for the season, it might not work for me. It was a hard lesson. I look back at some of my outfits and ask myself. “what was I thinking” when I obviously wasn’t! I am now confident enough to create my own style and let fashion dictate to others who are still in the learning stages. Most fashion gurus won’t tell you the truth. In my second book, The Grown-up Girl’s Guide To Style, I told the truth. Some people loved it, others were angered by my strong opinions. But my opinions come from experience and years of working with real people with real issues. I always believe you “don’t show what you don’t want seen” no matter how in style it might be. Accent your positives and diminish your negatives. We are all unique.
I also love mixing the designer with the H&M. The inexpensive with the expensive. Outfits are over. Creativity is in. I mix gold bracelets with plastic. A Donna Karan skirt with a Forever 21 Tee, a Target shirt with jeans. I have diamond earrings and plastic earrings. One of my favorite pair cost $18. I love to buy something from the boys department, a vest, a shirt, a tank or Tee, more affordable and every bit as good. This year it was linen shirts from J.Crew for men in XS. Half the price of a women’s linen shirt. I use Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and a lipstick from the drug store. Sometimes I carry a designer bag and other times I carry a straw tote from Marshalls.The best way to dress up anything is with a good belt. I will pay a fortune for a belt and then put it with very moderate priced pieces and the entire outfit looks expensive. It’s not how much it costs,it’s how much you love it. I am crazed about accessories. A white shirt, black pants can be the most wonderful outfit with accessories.
Your latest book, Take Me Home From the Oscars, is a memoir. You talk about your life as a fashion and beauty reporter living a glamorous life from LA to NY, but also your struggle with rheumatoid arthritis. Why did you want to share your story? I didn’t want to share it for 20 years. I kept it a secret from everyone except my family because I was afraid I would lose my career and in reality I would have. Arthritis is associated with being old and crippled and yet 300,000 children suffer, many, many young women and men suffer. And today the medications and treatments for arthritis have changed for the positive, putting many people, like myself, in remission. But the perception has not changed. I went to the taping of “Stand Up For Cancer” and there were celebrities talking openly about cancer. I realized that celebrities don’t talk openly about arthritis and I understood why. My goal now is to get celebrities to talk, to open the dialogue, to make people aware that arthritis is not the same today as it was for our parents and grandparents and many more positive changes are in the research pipeline. I want to do a make-over on arthritis. Bring it out in the open so people, like myself don’t have to hide.
Can you explain a little about rheumatoid arthritis, and some of the struggles you have been through? RA is a disease where your body attacks itself. Your body actually eats into your own joints, causing not only devastating pain, but damage. For seven years, at the peak of my career I suffered. I was on so many different medicines and combinations of medicines. Pain pills to get me thought a television segment or a Hollywood Black tie event, steroids pumped into my body so I could walk to the Emmys or the Academy Awards. I was good at hiding my weight gain, my stiffness, my pain. I found a doctor that believed in me, never gave up on me or hope and kept me going, knowing how important my work was to me. Because of a difficult childhood that I had struggled to overcome, my fear of losing my career was foremost on my mind. He got me through and eventually in a research program at UCLA that put me in remission. When my RA was active some of my struggles were the simplest of tasks. One morning I wasn’t able to blow my hair dry for a national TV show, so I had to wear a hat. Other days I couldn’t wear shoes so I made sneakers my trademark. I had to stop doing make-up demonstrations on air because I never knew when my hands would cramp and cause me to drop a brush. But my motto has always been, “what you can’t control, manage.” That doesn’t mean I didn’t have bad days, I did, but I always had my little pity party and then got back on track.
Celebrities are constantly under pressure to look their best, look young, and be skinny. How do you think this affects young people that grow up idolizing their favorite stars? I see very young girls thinking they are fat when they’re not. I know of many young women who have plastic surgery when it’s not necessary. We always see our own flaws more than others see them, but today, with all the photoshopping of celebrities and the emphasis on being thin and young, the pressure is on. When you work in television and the media, the pressure is real and most succumb and most look really good as a result. And I’m all for doing what makes you feel and look good. I love cosmetic dermatology and plastic surgery, but in moderation. Not perfection. Not overdone. It’s a very fine line.What toll do you think this has on society today? Pressure, pressure and more pressure. So it comes down to three categories. The ones who give up and say I’ll just be myself, the ones who use the knowledge to look their appropriate best and the ones who overdo and people stare at not because they look good but because they look weird. The question is, how much is too much? My answer is, for me, I always want to look my best but I never want to look like I’m trying too hard. I want to look younger, but never foolish. I want to be stylish without being trendy. Moderation is the key.
What was the last thing you borrowed from someone? Books. I am an avid reader and I adore a recommended book.
Are you a reality TV show fan? Totally addicted to American Idol, what can I say. I get caught up in it. But because of that addiction I don’t watch any others. What do you have your Tivo set to record? Mad Men, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Masterpiece Theater, most of the HBO mini-series.
Where have been some of your favorite places to travel? I love Italy and London. The George Bernard Theater Festival in Niagara-0n-the-Lake, Santa Barbara and of course my home away from home, New York.
What is your advice to aspiring writers? Never give up. I am not a writer who can say I only need to write for myself, I wish I was, but I need to be published, to reach others through my books. My three publishing experiences have been totally different. My first was a breeze. My second one almost pushed me over the edge because my publisher was so high profile it was like dealing with a major movie star. This current book has been so heartfelt and emotional that I often feel drained. You have to love the process of writing and learn to deal with the world of publishing. It’s like one part creativity, one part business=success. Most often writers are not able to deal with the business and yet in today’s world they must. Publishing is changing daily and we have to change with it. Never, ever take no for an answer. Put on a new face and try again. The ones who want it the most are the ones who succeed, as with everything in life.
Guest Post by Carol Snow
Carol Snow, author of WHAT CAME FIRST, http://www.carolsnow.com
Tips for Writers
She stopped me in the hallway and threw me a perfunctory compliment for a talk about my recent book, which she hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. Then she got down to business.
“I wrote a book, and I need to know how to get it published.”
There’s no rush, I told her: for now, she should spend some time experimenting and focusing on her craft.
She put her hands on her hips. “The book’s ready. I’ve been working on it for four months. I just need to find a publisher.”
Then the bell rang and she picked up her Hello Kitty backpack and headed into her fifth grade classroom.
Most of the people who ask me for tips on fiction writing and publishing are older than this particular girl (and a lot less pushy), but much of the advice I give to beginning writers is the same:
1. Focus on process rather than product. If you keep writing, there is plenty of time to publish later on. To begin with, have some fun with words, characters and stories without worrying about whether or not they are perfect.
2. Write often to develop fluency. Keep a diary, blog, journal . . . whatever works to keep you writing daily (or almost daily). The more you write, the more easily words will flow.
3. Live your life. Get out and do things, learn new skills, explore different places, and meet a variety of people. Take jobs that have nothing to do with writing. It is all material. More importantly, it’s your life; you should live it to the fullest.
4. Read widely. All writers are readers first. If you don’t like to read, then you shouldn’t be a writer. And if you do like to read, try widening your scope to included new genres, which can expose you to new possibilities for your own writing, and daily newspapers, which can spark all kinds of story ideas.
5. Learn to type. The hunt-and-peck method takes too much time and distracts you from your ideas.
6. Experiment with different styles and perspectives. The first time I wrote a story in the first person, it was a revelation: at last I had found my voice. After writing seven books in the first person (the last in three different voices), I’ve switching back to third person for my eighth, now in progress, and am amazed at the ways in which it opens up the story.
7. Find a good teacher. By this I mean someone who balances constructive criticism with constructive praise and who helps you come up with ideas on your own rather than just assigning a bunch of exercises.
8. Become part of a community of writers. Early on (and for some writers, forever), a writing or critique group can help give you the confidence and skills to move forward.
9. Learn to self-edit. While group support can be wonderful, fiction writing is, for most of us, a solitary activity. It’s best to share your writing only after you’ve gone as far as you can on your own.
10. Read Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Repeatedly. You can write the most imaginative, perfectly constructed book in the world, but if the writing is murky and the manuscript is littered with grammatical and punctuation errors, no agent or editor will give it more than a cursory glance.
Interview with Lacy Camey
Have you always known that being a writer was for you?
Yes! Of course I had the usual childhood dream of being a famous actress, as well :)…But it was always in me to write and tell stories. I’ve been doing it since I was very little. I’ve been writing professionally for 4 years and couldn’t imagine doing anything else!
Can you describe The Last Page in twenty words or less?
Sure! It’s a fun, light, quick read, with fashion, humor, family, friends, beach, hottie, loving and living again, triumph.
The Last Page is the first in a series. Did you find plotting out a series was harder to do than a standalone book?
I love series and I love staying in the world the characters create. Deciding to write the “Living, Loving, Laughing Again” series was very natural. I didn’t want the story to end, myself as the writer! The challenging part is trying to keep the same type of humor in all three books because each character has such a very different voice. So, in each book, humor has to be brought in different ways, perhaps plot, or dialogue, or from other characters.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing process?
I’m a huge researcher. I knew about the process of traditional publishing. I knew one could query, month after month, perhaps get an agent, and still query for years! Then, maybe she gets a deal, and perhaps only makes a small advance with her first contract. (not to mention waiting two years for the book to reach stores…) Most never even earn out their advance and see royalties. That news flash didn’t seem very appealing to me. In fact, it was downright discouraging!
My goal was to be a professional, career novelist with multiple, multiple books written. I knew the only way to get the ball rolling was to publish myself and take it in my own hands. Especially with the booming e book industry, it’s just the perfect time to self publish. Especially since every writer, traditionally published or not, is expected to have an online presence and market their brand. I knew I could do that myself and keep most of my royalties and rights. I felt confident that I could make just as much revenue as a first time author does with her normal first printing run myself by taking control of publishing. I’m having a ton of fun this way and trust that if or when I’m supposed to have a traditional deal in the future with my books, it will be a smoking deal! It would be a deal where I can still self publish on my own because I like writing in different genres and I consider myself a fast writer.
So, in April 2011, the light bulb went off for me after reading stories of other writers, especially Joe Konrath’s blog. I knew this is what I had to do to make my own personal dreams come true now; I had to be proactive. I’ve always believed in the philosophy that God helps those who help themselves. “So, I wanted to be published? I would be published. Now! And not have someone tell me no”. Of course, I did everything as professionally as possible to ensure my book had the highest quality possible. I had a professional cover artists, it was professionally edited, with two proofers. I even had it professionally formatted. I will do the same when I re-release the entire series in Spring 2012 in print books.
I have always told myself, “I want to be a published fiction writer by the time I’m 30,” (Like my own books. I also do ghostwriting and have written a few books but they AREN’T MINE! I’m a writer for my day job, but not a novelist as my day job, yet.) So, it’s such an incredible feeling to be 27 years old (2 months shy of 28), and have met one of my self imposed goals. Now unto more books and unto the full time novelist goal! 🙂
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Oh, it’s the outlining! Just kidding 🙂 It’s reading that final draft and feeling a great sense of accomplishment. The next would be having readers tell you they like your book.
What are some of your other hobbies besides writing?
Working out, running, hot yoga, cooking and trying new recipes, reading, being outside, (I’m about to go kayaking soon so I’m excited about that!), hanging out with my hubs, being with friends and family, creating, watching movies and my favorite tv shows with my husband! A future hobby I want to pick up when I have more time is sewing. I want to sew a luxurious silk duvet cover that you see in French stores 🙂 And then sell it for half the price boutiques charge! But my husband lovingly reminds me, “focus on writing”, haha, which he’s sort of right because I’m always wanting to create businesses! Maybe I can outsource, right? Like Norah in my book!
Giving Back is something you focus on, and you donate a part of your book sales to orphanages. How did you first get involved with giving back?
I was raised in church and we always did projects in our community. I was also involved in organizations while in college, as well. I went on my first mission trip when I was 17 to Central America. I’ll never forget seeing the poverty and the children running around with smiling faces. They were happy to have just the smallest things. Their eyes would light up to just have a ball, a doll, attention, a hug.
We’re so blessed and fortunate in America and other countries around the world. According to a recent article I have read, most Americans spend an average of $3,400 per person on food and beverages. That alone is 365 percent more than the total average income of over half the people in the world. That’s mind-boggling!
When I saw the need, the poverty, suddenly that itch to get my hair re-highlihted didn’t seem as important. (I still highlight my hair, obviously. My hair is really blonde!) But that experience left an impression in me. It really teaches you perspective. I recommend going to a third world country to everyone.
I really feel like we are to leave the world a better place by being here. God has given us each talents and abilities to use to help others and to make a difference in the world. Maybe not everyone can read my books, but I know I can do something good with a portion of the revenues. I feel especially for children because children are our world’s future. They cannot control the family they are born into. But when given the proper tools, love, hope, life skills, education, they can rise out of poverty and change their family’s generational line. I’m certain we each have someone in our own family generational line that made a choice for something different in his or her life. I want to help “that someone” and be a part of the catalyst of change for his or her future family. I want to help offer “a choice to make”.
What are three things you never leave the house without?
Iphone, lipgloss/chapstick, and perfume! (all in my purse). I like to smell good!
What is your advice to aspiring writers?
Never give up! Don’t let other people’s opinions keep you from pursuing what’s inside of you. Be unique, be yourself, be the best you Let other’s work ethic, accomplishments, and their way of doing things inspire you, but don’t try and be anyone else but you. That way you can create new paths and be a leader.
Guest Post by Susan Fales-Hill
The realization that one MUST write books can dawn slowly, over the course of a lifetime, or in a Joan-of-Arc-hears-a-voice sudden flash of inspiration. I had my first epiphany during a dismal meeting with T.V. network executives as I burned at the stake of their unrelenting criticism of a script I had written about a subject I knew cold: glamorous black divas. It was 1998 and I was a thirteen year sitcom veteran having worked as a writer on “The Cosby Show, “as Executive Producer/Headwriter of its spinoff, “A Different World,” two other less memorable shows, and served as Consulting Producer on Brooke Shields’ comedic vehicle, “Suddenly Susan.” (Thirteen years may not sound like much, but TV writers’ careers are measured in dog years, we are hideously overworked and grossly overpaid. For that decade plus, I had no life, and was mother to a large brood of handbags) This was the tail end of the last great Golden Age of Network television, a time before niche networks and the proliferation of reality shows featuring disgraced politicians and Republican baby mamas mamboing their way to image rehabilitation and big cash prizes. During a lull between show running jobs, I had agreed to write a pilot, with Whoopi Goldberg as producer, about a Broadway diva who had fallen on hard times. Having grown up around a group I like to call the Original Divas, Diahann Carrol, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, my own mother, Broadway legend, Josephine Premice (who would awaken me every morning with a song, a homemade chocolate shake and wearing her false eyelashes,) I knew the breed. I more than knew them, had a Doctorate in Advanced Divology.
. Rather than comment on the story, the executives launched into an attack on the depiction of the “Diva. “ They reeled off a list of actresses they considered divas, all of them white, and though all talented, more “Mae West” raunchy/vulgar than naughty and refined like the performers I’d known all my life. Whoopi objected: “None of the women you’ve mentioned is a woman of color.” “Our Yoga instructor is Indian,” the executives countered brightly without a trace of irony. With all due respect to this no doubt lovely and obviously enterprising woman, I submit that opening a Yoga studio in a strip mall in Santa Monica in the 1990’s doesn’t quite compare to changing the image of African American women from sexless, subservient mammies to sophisticated, empowered glamazons in the era of Jim Crow. Call me crazy. Beyonce, Halle Berry, Viola Davis, Angela Basset and scores of others owe their careers to the strides made by this prior generation of path breakers. But the executives were clearly oblivious to these truths. As they steamrolled over Whoopi’s comment and the original concept of the piece, I felt as if I had landed in the third circle of Dante’s Hell and was being punished for all eternity for a crime I didn’t remember committing. Aside from the fact they had no frame of reference for the world, or the women we were depicting, they weren’t going to bother to do their research. I had had the privilege of working on groundbreaking shows that had systematically dismantled stereotypes, but in this case “the revolution (would) not be televised.” I knew in that moment that to do justice to the Original Divas, I would eventually have to turn to another medium.
I wish I could tell you, dear reader, that I stood up then and there, cast my pencil down before these benighted bores and declared “Enough is enough, I’m done with T.V.” In the first place, the discussion was taking place via phone, in a time before Skype, so the drama of my standing up and tossing said pencil to the ground would have been lost on them. In the second, I’m nothing if not practical and security oriented. It took a couple of more years to loose myself from television’s golden handcuffs. That same year, I sold a show to Showtime with Tim Reid that starred the incredible Pam Grier. For two seasons, we enjoyed much greater creative freedom . But I realized I still had not told my story. It was my husband who asked me one night over dinner: “Other than the money, what keeps you in TV?” I stared at him dumbly and looked down at my designer purse. I had to admit to myself that woman does not live by luxury accessories alone. It was time to take a chance. An article I wrote about growing up bi-racial in the 60’s and 70’s and not ending up in an asylum led me to immortalize my mother in a memoir, “Always Wear Joy,” published two years after her passing and the year my daughter was born.
All I can say, dear reader is, “once you go hardback, you never go back.” The work of writing books is far lonelier. I can no longer bounce ideas ofF an entire staff, but am reduced to talking to myself (hopefully not in public) until my editor weighs in on the first draft. And there is no one to fetch me cappuccinos at will. That said, the freedom to depict the world as I know it, big, messy, multicultural, and not be told that a character is too old (because she’s all of thirty two), too unlikeable, too exotic, too badly behaved, too too much is well worth the “sacrifices.”
My debut novel, “One Flight Up,” the first multicultural chick lit novel, is dedicated to the notion that we don’t pick our friends like Garanimal pajamas, (i.e.they don’t all match. ) Tired of books that end with an “I Do,” I wanted to explore the choices women face between marrying sexy Mario in the Mazerati, who rocks your world but won’t be there to change diapers, and Murray the Mortician who will, but between the sheets may make you feel like you’ re being embalmed. I’m now on book three and counting.
With each tome, I learn, grow, and hopefully improve. My television training served me well. I don’t treat deadlines as mere suggestions and I’m the first to edit myself. I don’t treat any part of my books like the stone tablets of Moses. Writing is re-writing. And so, I suppose I should thank the two executives whose whining incomprehension drove me to seek out new territory. And should book writing not pan out, I can always return to my first job out of high school and before college: peddling designer purses behind the counter at Gucci. Anyone for a calf-skin clutch?
susanfales-hill.com
Debut Author and Novels- August and September 2011
Debut Authors & Novels- August/September 2011 Title: The Last Page Author: Lacy Camey Available: August 3, 2011 Synopsis: Norah Johnson is at a crossroads…
Author Profile: Kathleen Kole
Author Name: Kathleen Kole
Website: http://kathleenkole.com/
Bio: Born in Edmonton AB, Kathleen began storytelling in grade school. She has many fond memories of passing summer afternoons, out on the swings in her backyard, creating tales that entertained her neighborhood friends.
When she finally decided to venture from her backyard, Kathleen pursued a career in storytelling. She graduated from college with a Diploma in Radio and Television Arts and traveled the path of freelance writing for numerous local newspapers.
Many years later, too many to talk about without seeming rude and nosey, Kathleen has channeled her imagination to the pages of her novels. She hopes that you enjoy her tales and encourages you to feel free to read her stories on the swing set in your own backyard.
Kathleen has traveled from Edmonton, to a new backyard with a lovely mountain view. She spends time there with her beloved husband, adored son and silly dog. They let her tell them stories and always laugh in all of the correct places. She’s lucky, and she knows it.
Titles: Breaking Even
See my review of Breaking Even
Bio Retrieved from kathleenkole.com
