(Below is a compilation of two sets of
questions from interviewers that have come my way recently. I like the questions because they allow
me to self assess without a lot of soul searching. Some of the questions are from an interview for:“View from
the Empty Nest” http://mollydcampbell.com)
What are you working
on?
I don’t know what I’m working on. My thinking is not linear
so it’s impossible to pinpoint what I’m working on. In the most
encompassing sense, I’m working on understanding how the heck life works
because I believe there is a reliable way that it works and if we discover the formula we can use it to our advantage.
How does your work
differ from other writers in your genre?
I don’t have any one genre. I’ve written memoir, novels, monologue, blog, advertising
copy. My work differs from my own work. The closest to my present sensibility is a novel titled One Hundred Open Houses. If you read that book and read my blog
it will be obvious they are written by the same person. My most successful novel is a
historical generational saga that is like nothing else I’ve written. I hardly believe I am capable of
writing that way but there it is with my name on it.
Why do you write?
I have two insatiable needs. I need constant approval (I only found this out recently)
and I want to find out who the heck I am.
Writing is the delivery system I have chosen to satisfy those
needs. By the way, I haven’t made
any progress. None at all but it’s too late to start on a different system.
What is your writing
process?
I’m ashamed of my writing process. It is spotty and whimsical. I’m sorry I used the word whimsical because it connotes a
certain charm and my writing process has not one iota of
charm. I write at my whim is what
I meant to say. Sometimes guilt
plays a part. I don’t know why
people are so down on guilt – if it weren’t for guilt I’d never get anything
done. Guilt is the big mover and
shaker of the world. Let it be.
Do you like to write?
Anyone who tells you they love writing is lying or demented.
You have to shut off all the fun stuff and get down to business in a serious
way. Sometimes a long walk or a
long shower will flood me with ideas for a current project or for a new project
and I rush to the computer. Seldom
are these ideas reliable but they do get me to sit down and often lead to
something solid. The writing monkey chose me a very long time ago and he/she is
still on my back. I don’t have a say in the matter. If I’m not writing, I don’t feel worthwhile. (I also don’t
feel worthwhile if I AM writing.)
What about writing
humor?
People are too enamored of humor. When women describe the man of their dreams, humor is always
at the top. Really? Funny men seldom make a lot of
money. Humor is peculiar and
very personal. Humor has been sold
to us as something valuable like arugula or cilantro. I
hardly ever laugh out loud and I hardly ever laugh when I’m alone. Sometimes physical humor (someone
falling down, etc.) makes me laugh. The book that far outsells all of the
others, Daughters, doesn’t have one funny line.
Is writing humor
difficult?
Writing humor is not hard if you are willing to showcase the
very worst things about yourself.
Think of it this way: you
are getting paid and/or admired for your faults. If you have a colossal blind spot about housekeeping, lying,
eating, hoarding, etc. and can manage to discuss it as if it is a secret virtue
you share with your reader, you will do well with humor.
What’s the worst part
of being a writer?
When people know you are a writer they will say, “Would I
have read anything you’ve written?” You should simply say “No.” The alternative is to recite a laundry
list of everything you’ve written (did you read that ad I wrote for Macy’s for
electroplated charms?) and wait like a schlump for the person to recognize a
title. Where is the payoff
here? There is no payoff. This is
a lose/lose situation. My
advice? Never tell anyone you are
a writer. By the way the second
question is always: Have any of your books been made into movies? Always say
yes. And when they ask the title
just fill in one of Johnny Depp’s movies.
So far you have made
being a writer sound simply horrid.
Do you get any pleasure out of it at all?
No. Oh, wait. Yes. I get pleasure from writing my
blog. I see my blog as the present
the writing monkey has given me for sticking around all these years. In a way, writing a blog is a little
like being a copywriter at a big department store (my first writing job). If
you write a good ad, you see the customers rushing in to buy the merchandise
the next day. They are confirming
that you wrote a convincing ad.
With blogging, the readers and followers weigh in the next morning also
to let you know that you have mirrored their lives or given them a chuckle or
share a very human fault.
