Interview with Irene Woodbury

Hi Irene! Below are my interview questions. Thanks!

Can you describe A Slot Machine Ate My Midlife Crisis in twenty words or less?

A bizarre girls’ weekend in Las Vegas evolves into the darkly funny midlife crisis of forty-something newlywed Wendy Sinclair.

What made you want to write this story?

I always wondered what it would be like to go on a weekend trip and not go home. What would I do? What would the people back home say? Where would I live? Would I get a job? What kinds of people would I meet? Instead of actually doing this, I wrote a novel about someone who does it. I got to live out my fantasies through Wendy.

Why did you choose Las Vegas as the setting?

I spent a lot of time there as a travel writer. I found the city incredibly interesting and wanted to learn more about it. Writing this book gave me the opportunity to do that. Plus, I think the characters have traits in common with Las Vegas. They have attractive surfaces, but are complex and troubled underneath. Las Vegas is like that: a glitzy, frivolous surface with plenty of deeper, darker aspects to it. So, the characters and the setting complement each other.

What was the most difficult part of the writing process for you?

Writing with my heart and my head. You have to think everything the characters think, and feel everything they feel. It was hard to sustain that level of focus and intensity day in, day out, for five years.

Do you think you want to write a sequel?

I would love to pick up the characters at the end of Slot and take them further. I miss the creative-writing process–escaping into a make-believe world for hours each day. But it’s a big commitment. It would probably take three to five years, so I’d have to think it through.

How did you get started in travel writing?

On a vacation trip to London in 2000, my husband talked me into helping him with a travel story. I took over and wrote 40 pages. I never thought I’d enjoy travel writing, but I loved it. A couple of months later, the story ran in the Los Angeles Times. So the credit, or responsibility, goes to my husband.

What are you currently reading?

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

What are some top Vegas attractions you would recommend?

The Lion Habitat at MGM Grand
The Conservatory at Bellagio
Jersey Boys show at Palazzo
Love show at Mirage
Spa Mandalay at Mandalay Bay
View of the Las Vegas valley from Eiffel Tower at Paris

What have been some of your favorite travel destinations, either to visit or write about?

London was my Number One destination for a few years. The stories I did there are some of my favorites. I also loved working in Las Vegas, Paris, Dublin and Madrid.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Find out the preferred length of whatever it is you’re going to write, and stick to it! Don’t do what I did and write a 175,000-word novel that has to cut by 35,000 words so that agents or publishers will be interested. It just adds extra work and anguish.