Q&A with Lori Carlson-Hijuelos

  

 

Lori Carlson-Hijuelos is the author of the new memoir A Writing Marriage. It focuses on her marriage to the late writer Oscar Hijuelos. Her other books include the novel The Sunday Tertulia. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this memoir?

 

A: In December 2013, my church, The Riverside Church in New York City, held a beautiful memorial service for Oscar. It was given two months after his death.

 

Following the service, an old friend of ours, Philip Graham, said to me, “You have to write about your life together, Lori.” In that moment, I knew I would. The marriage that Oscar and I created and cherished needed to be concretized for me on the page.

 

I wanted to leave behind our story so that Oscar’s readers could add to their understanding of his art and, also, his persona. And for purely selfish reasons, I needed to be able to hold our marriage in my hands. Not just remember it but touch it.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I did not really choose the title. The title resounded within me. And I liked it. I heard in my heart: Right. Write.

 

I suppose the title signifies two things. It refers to a marriage of writers who spent their days composing books. And, of course, it alludes to the unusual blending of fiction and nonfiction in memoir form, Oscar’s words from his unfinished novel and certain memories of mine--prompted by a cathedral workspace--of our life together.

 

Q: Why did you decide to incorporate excerpts from your husband’s novel Blue Antiquity into the memoir?

 

A: The scholar in me, the trained academic reader who was nurtured formally in a graduate school program years ago, wanted to try an approach to writing about marriage in a distinctive way.

 

I was amazed by Oscar’s pages of Blue Antiquity when I found them among the many boxes of materials in his studio, and I just knew they had to be published some way. Well, at least a selection of them, as the manuscript is about 2,000 pages long.

 

I began to analyze the manuscript as I read it, and it was during my emotional reading of the work that I understood I could comment in writing on the story he had been composing.

 

While I was pondering this idea, so too was my editor. We didn’t know we were thinking alike until we had a phone conversation about my proposal.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: Writing this book had a religious impact on me as well as a forward-moving thrust upon me.

 

It has been more than a decade since Oscar’s sudden death from a heart attack in New York City’s Riverside Park, but the passing of those years did little to heal my spirit. Time was useless in lessening my pain. I have used the word “broken” to describe how I often felt after Oscar’s passing.

 

Writing my memoir in a cathedral library was an incredibly sacred experience. The subject matter of Oscar’s novel—often deeply spiritual and sometimes biblical—did not escape me as I wandered around in my soul, looking for connections to him, hoping to find him anew.

 

Oscar was SO present with me in First Lutheran Church in Jamestown, New York. God, Oscar, and I were making this book, I felt. I have found a certain peace in the writing of this memoir. I have moved forward. Finally.

 

I hope my readers are stirred by the faith, hope, and love in my book. Mainly, love.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am collaborating with a marvelous director, Andy Señor, Jr. on a musical of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am hoping to teach a college course, somewhere, that explores the grandeur of Oscar’s fiction—using the newly released paperbacks published by Grand Central/Hachette Book Group. I really want to teach an in-depth seminar that honors my husband’s literature.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with T. Alex Blum

  

Photo by Suzanne Strong

 

T. Alex Blum is the author of the new memoir An Accident of Birth: A Story of Adoption & Identity. It focuses on his adoption and the discovery of his biological family. He has worked in marketing, advertising, and feature film production.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this memoir?

 

A: When I was connected with my brothers in late 2019, we started to have Zoom calls on a regular basis. On these calls, we would share stories, histories (theirs and mine) and shared experiences, and it became a study of parallel lives, nature versus nurture, and the power of luck and coincidence.

 

I had always thought about writing a book, and it became clear to me that this was the book I should write. Once I had their blessing to pursue it, I started working on it, and the first draft was completed in about four years.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The expression “an accident of birth” refers to something that someone acquires or experiences purely as a result of their birth, which to me describes exactly the experience of adoption, with an extra layer of irony.

 

As an adoptee, the circumstances of your life are entirely determined by not only genetics and DNA but by a series of choices made by other people over which you have no influence or control.

 

Q: You include excerpts of reminiscences from your brothers in the book--why did you decide to do that?

 

A: As we shared our stories on our Zoom calls, I often asked my brothers to jot down their reminiscences and send them to me, and it became obvious to me that in the interests of authenticity, those stories should be included in the book and told by them in their own words.

 

In fact, when we recorded the audiobook, I had them record each of their sections so the listener would hear those stories in their own voices.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this book, and what do you hope people take away from it?

 

A: Writing this book became a voyage of discovery for me, first in terms of my feelings about my own experience and about adoption in general and then in terms of all the people and all the stories I have encountered since I began this process.

 

I didn’t realize how many people’s lives are touched by the adoption experience, whether they are adoptees, birth parents and siblings, adoptive families and siblings, children and spouses of adoptees, and others.

 

I would like people to understand that adoption is far more complicated than most people realize, and the emotional landscape can be challenging in lots of ways, and it’s helpful for adoptees to understand that most likely they share issues in common with many other adoptees, and they should feel free to own their story and explore the issues.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on my next book, which strictly speaking is not a memoir, although it does deal with memory and the different forms it takes as it morphs over the years and perspectives change.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I thought writing the book would be the hard part. I had no idea how many things there are to figure out and do once the book is written!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Steven M. Rubin

  

 

 

Steven M. Rubin is the author of the new novel The Unraveling of Michael Galler. He lives in Weston, Connecticut. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Unraveling of Michael Galler, and how did you create your character Michael?

A: I had already decided I wanted to write a novel, but the ideas I was contemplated just didn’t resonate with me.

 

We often use the expression that something can “spread like a cancer.” One day I had that same thought about something specific that was continuing to frustrate me, which was then immediately followed by, “What if that thing really WAS cancer, just in another form other than the malignant cellular growth we typically associate with cancer?”

 

The concept that cancer could be some type of malevolent force that could manifest itself within us in different forms, or “disguises,” was intriguing to me.

 

And as an antagonist, I think it’s fair to say that we all fear cancer could be unwittingly growing and spreading within any one of us. And once we discover it is there, it is typically too late to survive it. The concept of having our worst fear growing inside us without our knowledge was frightening to me.

But to build this idea into a story, I had to reverse-engineer a character who could come to believe that the thing I had flippantly identified as comparable to a cancer, actually was Cancer; as some type of clever, sinister form that had set out to destroy him and his family.

 

I took some unrelated events from my early childhood and wondered how someone else might have been shaped differently if he came to believe they actually were related. That person became my protagonist, Michael Galler.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I knew exactly how it would end and the whole plot is a straight line from Michael’s inciting incident to its fated conclusion.

 

I won’t say it wasn’t without its challenges. I had to carefully develop the antagonist in a way that kept the reader guessing as to if, and how, Cancer might reveal itself to Michael, particularly when Michael was acutely aware of its potential existence.

 

It took some time to find where to begin, but the end was never in doubt. I also knew many of the places I had to get to along the way, but I still had much to fill in as the story developed.

I additionally needed another character who would become meaningful much later in the story, but introducing him later risked seeming too contrived.

 

So, I introduced Tremont early and we follow his separate path while observing how his traits are forged. But for Tremont, I never knew what his next episode was until I sat down to write a new chapter about him. I hope Tremont’s unflinching history also propels readers’ interest forward as they contemplate how these two disparate worlds will eventually intersect.

 

Q: The writer Jacqueline Friedland called the book a “thoughtful and emotionally charged exploration of endurance, obsession, and the fragile line between control and collapse...” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I thank Jacqueline for reading the book and sharing her perspective, and I feel she got it exactly right. The story only works if there is emotional resonance among the characters, and then they have to navigate a challenging, yet delicate landscape.

 

When I read the words she surely chose carefully, I felt they very well described all the mechanics I worked so hard to inject into every scene, and her description is evidence she comprehended all the subtle themes that were moving in tandem to get to its inevitable conclusion.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

A: First and foremost, I hope readers are entertained by it; that is why we read fiction after all. I also hope they find some emotional attachment to the characters and become vested in their stories.

 

But ultimately, what I am trying to convey is that each of us lives in our own mind, and in that very private place we can create and nurture thoughts and ideas that can grow into something unexpectedly both harmful or hopeful.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I used to make up silly five-minute stories when I put my young daughter to bed. One night, I decided to create a story I would continue each night to keep her continually engaged in the same characters, and that went on for well over a month before I brought it to its conclusion.

 

When I was finished, I thought the ideas I had created might be worth fleshing out into a true novel. I’m working on bringing those characters and that tale to life. It should come as no surprise that it is a coming-of-age story centered around the relationship between a father and his daughter.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: Thank you for the opportunity to share my experiences with your audience.

 

One of the key plot lines is Michael training arduously to participate in the Boston Marathon as part of his obsession with strengthening his body to defend against Cancer. Having run three marathons myself, many years apart, they are filled with an overpowering anxiety of not knowing if you will finish.

 

If you’ve ever run a marathon, and you should, there is an overwhelming sense of unease of not knowing the outcome after investing so much time and effort to train, and I did my best to write that disquietude into that arc.

 

At the age of 50, for reasons I can’t explain, I had decided to run a third marathon and I had a heart attack at the halfway point. But I did not want to be defined as that person you inevitably read about who had a heart attack during a marathon; I wanted to be defined as the person who went back to finish.

 

Five years later (with approval from my doctor and wife), I started over with a one-mile run and after a year and a half, successfully completed what I had set out to do.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Wendy Swift

  

 

 

Wendy Swift is the author of the new memoir A Dream Life. She lives in Connecticut. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this memoir?

 

A: I was working as the director of the writing center at a private day and boarding school and in that role I formed writing groups for students and faculty. In my faculty group, I had been writing fiction, but one time I decided to tell my story encapsulated into an essay that I titled “Praying Before Idols.”

 

When I shared that essay with my fellow writing group members they were stunned. They had no idea that this experience of being married to a man who was incarcerated for embezzlement was part of my life’s history. With their encouragement, I wrote more essays and each one was published.

 

At first I  thought I would only write about raising my daughters while their father was in prison, but then I realized it needed context and so the story was expanded to include events leading up to his incarceration and briefly following.

 

I realized my story had meaning for many others, especially when I went online and found Lisa Lawler, founder of the White-Collar Wives Project. Many people’s lives are impacted by white-collar crime.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen and what does it signify for you?

 

A: Originally, I thought about titling the memoir Praying Before Idols, like the essay I had published in Grub Street Literary Magazine, but someone noted that title sounded like one fitting a religious-themed book.

 

As I read through my manuscript, it was clear that in my denial I was looking to live a dream life, one where all my wishes for material fulfillment were granted and everyone was happy and safe. The title speaks to that wish as well as to the irony that resulted from seeking a dream life without consideration for the reality that underpinned that.

 

Finally, in the US we often hear about the American Dream of prosperity resulting from hard work. I think most of us know that’s a myth for many.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between you and your then-husband, Dan?

 

A: As I attempt to convey in my memoir, there were many great things about our relationship. He was funny and smart and loved being a father. At the same time, there was a tremendous amount of tension resulting from my desire to control what was beyond my control.

 

So we could sometimes be good friends, and other times we were absolute adversaries where arguing was a large part of our interactions. And because Dan was doing things he didn’t want anyone to know about, he was often evasive, which was frustrating when I had the sense that there were problems.

 

Naturally, alcohol and drug abuse interfere in creating an honest relationship even if one partner is not engaged in criminal behavior.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: The process of writing a book introduced me to a community of writers and propelled me to take writing classes and join writing groups. I love writing, but I hadn’t before written with so much intention.

 

I felt proud of myself for having the fortitude to work at writing and submitting the manuscript to publishers, but I was also a bit worried about the beast I was letting loose into the world.

 

At the same time, I discovered as chapters were published that readers are interested in learning about the ways in which any one of us can fall prey to false beliefs. It is not the tale of a hero and so I felt apprehensive about what readers would think of my story.

 

I hope readers can find themselves in the pages and realize that even when they feel trapped in a relationship, or sense that something is not right, that they have the strength to face those fears even at the risk of losing what they long to keep. Once their fears are confronted, they will ultimately become stronger and happier.

 

I also would like readers to recognize that if they are in a relationship where they believe their voice is not being heard, that they get appropriate support to avoid feeling frustrated and trapped.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on a craft essay about how writing with anger can block the writer’s work at self-reflection, which I believe is key in memoir writing. I am also very interested in flash writing. I recently took a class at Gotham Writers Workshop on flash writing and plan on focusing efforts on that form.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am very grateful for this opportunity to share information about my memoir and I hope people will read A Dream Life because I believe they will find it engaging and thought-provoking.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

May 14

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

May 14, 1952: David Byrne born. 

Q&A with Amy Mass

  

 

 

Amy Mass is the author of the new novel Reality Bites. She was a TV writer in Los Angeles, and she now lives in Georgia.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Reality Bites, and how did you create your character Grace?

 

A: Reality Bites is my love/hate letter to the city of Los Angeles and reality television.

 

When I moved from New York City to LA to work as a television writer, I quickly deemed Reality TV as my enemy. I hated that the comedies I put so much time and effort into creating were competing for timeslots and viewership with shows that were (gasp) unscripted.

 

Then I met my future husband. He had been watching shows like The Bachelor and Big Brother for decades. I refused to watch them with him until he realized that if he turned it into a game, I’d be into it.

 

So, we started Big Brother and The Bachelor/The Bachelorette Fantasy Leagues with our friend group. We made up a complex scoring matrix where you get bonus points for kissing, hooking up, and particularly savage disses, and we hosted finale parties with prizes for the winners. 

 

As we drafted players, there became a running joke that my team would never win because I “draft with my heart and not my head” and that I always pick the “loveable losers and underdogs.”

 

But winning didn’t matter to me because I began to see these contestants as more than just members of my team but as characters who I started to care about, root for and name themed cocktails after.

 

It also made me think about what would happen if a normal person/underdog like me, who used to hate reality TV, was forced to go on a reality dating show. And the character of Grace was born.

 

Q: What do you see as the role of humor in your writing?

 

A: For me and my characters, humor is the way we express ourselves in difficult situations, and deal with uncomfortable feelings and the state of the world.

 

But through this book, I’ve learned that I can’t use comedy as a literary emotional crutch. When my agent, Samantha, read my first draft she pointed out that Grace was using jokes instead of feeling her feelings. It felt like I was talking to my therapist, but she was right. And now I will forever do a “feelings pass” in Sam’s honor. 

 

So, while I’m leaning into feelings more than ever, I still consider myself a “Com-Rom” writer. I will always love comedy for the escapism it gives us and the balm we need to get through tough times. If I can make just one person happier because of something I’ve written, I’ll feel like I’ve served my purpose.

 

Q: What do you think the novel says about the world of reality TV?

 

A: Several of my friends in LA work in reality TV, including a couple who were producers on the Bachelor and Bachelorette, so I interviewed them and got as much of the inside scoop as they were able to share.

 

I didn’t set out to write a take-down of reality TV or an exposé about the way contestants and crew are treated but it just made sense that Grace, who is always looking out for the underdog, would fight the good fight against injustices on set.

 

I think at this point, many of us have heard about what goes on behind the scenes and that reality TV isn’t “real,” so ultimately, I just hope Reality Bites serves as a positive reminder that, like social media, you shouldn’t hold yourself to the unrealistic and fabricated standards that you see on TV.  

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Grace and her family members?

 

A: Grace is the black sheep in her family because she has a Ph.D. and doesn’t know how to use TikTok. In the beginning of the book, she’s judgy about her internet-famous family and underestimates them.

 

As the story unfolds, she realizes that she may have been too hard on them and maybe they weren’t the only ones not putting in enough effort into their relationships. This is a theme I really relate to - family may annoy the crap out of each other, but you’ll be there when it matters.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Putting the com in more rom-com novels! I also have a rom-com movie in development at Netflix and am working on three action-comedy movies at various stages of development. Like with Reality Bites, my hope is to give readers and viewers a fun break from reality.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have now watched and played Fantasy Big Brother, Fantasy Bachelorette, and Fantasy Bachelor for over 10 years. Through all those seasons, I have only won once. But that’s okay, because I will always root for the underdog. And when you meet Grace, I hope you will too.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Liv Mae Morris

  

Photo by Debra Marcus

 

 

Liv Mae Morris is the author of the new middle grade novel The Last Dragon House. She lives in Boston.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Last Dragon House, and how did you create your characters Dr. Lady, Olly, and Jenny?

 

A: I came up with the idea for the book way back in 2016. I was in grad school for children’s literature at the time, so I was thinking a lot about what kinds of stories I loved and why.

 

Throughout my life, as a writer, I’ve always returned to dragons. I remember standing at the register in the grocery store I worked at and ruminating about how cool and interesting it is that dragons can basically look like anything.

 

The idea popped into my head of a kid who works in a house full of all different types of dragons. I grabbed a nearby paper bag and wrote the opening lines of the book. (I wish I still had that bag!)

 

Olly was the first human character I thought up, and Dr. Lady was the second.

 

Olly was easy to write. I knew exactly what kind of character I wanted him to be: reluctant to work, caring enough that he’ll do it anyway to help his family, curious and kind and accepting.

 

I also knew that he needed somebody odd and brilliant to introduce him to the world of dragons, and that was Dr. Lady. I loved her the second she appeared on the page, and as I wrote, she gained depth and a story of her own.

 

Jenny was a surprise. The first draft of the book was incredibly long and unwieldy and I felt stuck, so I started writing a scene featuring Olly’s little sister, who up until that point had been a very minor character. It quickly became clear to me that she needed to become an integral part of the story.

 

For her, I drew largely from my own childhood—like her, I was shy and always daydreaming, and I often felt like I didn’t quite fit in. Her synesthesia is also mine. I’m not a wizard, though, unfortunately.

 

Q: How did you create the world in which the novel is set?

 

A: A lot of it is pretty obviously inspired by the real world and real history, particularly labor rights movements in the United States and Europe.

 

The kingdom of Aldea, though, isn’t precisely either of those places; it has its own history, which is why it’s aesthetically and economically similar to the industrial revolution but socially closer to our present.

 

I’ve always adored Shrek, how it combines historical and fairytale elements with modern attitudes. I think that mix can be both profound and very funny. So that was the angle that I wanted to take. I tried to create a world that feels both grounded in reality and, sometimes, silly and exaggerated—for humor, to make a point, or both at the same time.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the novel says, “Humor and heart make the pages of this classic quest story fly.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: It’s kind of them to say! Pacing is something I struggle with. Sometimes I get bogged down in thematic and philosophical stuff, and my editor was really helpful in making sure the story kept moving without losing any of the heart. It’s always nice to hear somebody appreciates my sense of humor, too.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I wrote the first draft in late 2016 and early 2017 for my MFA program. As I mentioned earlier, it was long and messy; I was trying to cram too many ideas into one place.

 

In fact, it didn’t even really have an ending. I simply could not figure out how to wrap everything up without writing tens of thousands of more words. The last page of that Word document was just a bullet point list of things I might like to happen.

 

I believed it was unsalvageable, so I put it away for a long time. I thought about it occasionally, though, because the first third or so was actually quite good.

 

About six years later it occurred to me that that first chunk was its own book, and that the grand overarching story I had wrestled with could unfurl more gradually and naturally over the course of a series.

 

That’s when I finally decided to revise it. I cut almost everything from later in the draft and came up with a new ending to serve as both a satisfying finale and a jumping-off point for sequels.

 

So the current ending is very, very different from the original in that it exists at all, and also because it’s concluding one part of a larger story that will continue in future books.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently revising Book 2! Soon I’ll begin drafting Book 3.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Nope! Thanks so much for your questions, and happy reading.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb