Like Nina Goldman, the narrator of my novel, I grew up in Akron, Ohio and also like Nina, I was born with a hemangioma. But make no mistake, Every Crooked Pot is a novel—a work of fiction. While I may have drawn upon my own experiences to create Nina and her family, she’s as different from me as the Goldmans are from the Rosen clan. But I have to say, I think there’s something special about Nina and I hope you’ll like getting to know her as I much as I did during the writing of her story!
I knew I wanted to write novels from the time I was a young girl, but never thought I’d write about my own experience growing up until I attended a writing workshop and was given an assignment about childhood memories. Only after completing that writing assignment did I realize I had a story inside me that was worth telling. It took a long time to write this novel—I had a lot to learn about writing in general and about finding Nina’s voice so she could tell her story. There were lots of false starts, and times when I would all but give up, set it aside and try working on something else. But I always returned to Every Crooked Pot and in between all the revisions and complete rewrites, I had a full-time career in advertising and marketing. So I was writing ad copy by day and fiction by night. And somewhere in between, my work managed to find its way onto the pages of Chicago Magazine, DAME Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Publisher’s Weekly and some other (sad-to-say) now defunct publications. Currently, I live in Chicago and am working on a new novel.
To learn more, keep scrolling down for the Q&A!
Author photo by Elizabeth Fraiberg
Please feel free to email me at everycrookedpot@gmail.com and don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list so I can keep you posted on Every Crooked Pot news.
Q&A
When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
I’ve known this is what I’ve wanted to do from the time I was a little girl. I sat down to write my first novel when I was eighteen, and I can still remember the first line, which was the absolute worst first line of any novel ever written: “Leslie Warner suffered through the first of what would be a lifetime of restless nights to follow.” Oh the drama, the drama!
Which writers have influenced you the most?
I think it’s more a case of which writers haven’t influenced me. I believe that everything I read – even the downright bad stuff – influences me in that sometimes it’s just as helpful to see the things I don’t want to do with my own work. As for individual authors who inspire me, a few automatically come to mind. I’m a huge fan of nuance and I think no one captures that element better than Mona Simpson. I also can’t get enough of anything written by Michael Cunningham, Susan Minot and Rand Richards Cooper. I also love Hemingway and Raymond Carver – their prose is so crisp and clean. Every word is so precise and never interferes with their storytelling.
How would you describe your style?
I’m a visual person, so I like to write scene-to-scene as much as possible. I need to anchor my characters in an environment that I can see and feel. Often times I’ll take a big block of exposition and I’ll try and find a way to turn it into a scene. That way, the characters can come forth and ‘introduce’ themselves to the reader without the weight of my heavy hand behind them.
What inspired you to write this type of a novel?
For years I had been making ill-fated attempts at writing novels that ultimately were lousy and went nowhere. And then I attended a writing workshop and was given an exercise about childhood memories. It was only after completing that exercise that I realized I had a novel inside me, based on my childhood. Never before did it occur to me to write about growing up with a birthmark covering my eye. The story had been sitting there all along, but I couldn’t see it.
Did you find writing this book to be cathartic?
There was certainly a bit of healing involved, but you have to keep in mind that my condition was never as severe as Nina’s. While I did undergo the same medical treatments as Nina, she had a much tougher time of it than I ever did. My scars were more emotional than anything else (which, come to think of it, is something that Nina and I shared) but the story and Nina’s struggles felt very separate from me.
Since Every Crooked Pot is autobiographical, why did you decide to write a novel rather than a memoir?
Honestly, my childhood wasn’t nearly as interesting as Nina’s! I can’t imagine that my real-life story would have made for much of a story at all. And I wanted to explore the complexities of childhood and family without feeling like I was stepping on anyone’s toes. I didn’t want to feel self-conscience about what I was putting on the page. I wanted to lose myself in someone else’s world, rather than just drudging up my past. By treating this as a work of fiction, I had the creative freedom to let the story find its voice and lead me, rather than the other way around.
How closely did you base your characters on your family members?
Now this is a tricky question. My father was an extremely colorful man and aspects of his personality, and certainly many of his escapades inspired the Artie character. To me, the most lovable parts of Artie can be traced back to my father. And that, by the way, was done intentionally because in the middle of writing this novel, my father unexpectedly passed away. Therefore, writing the Artie character became a way of keeping my father with me and paying tribute to his life and memory. As for the other characters, while I may have pulled a trait here or there, the others – even Nina – are fictional.
What has your family’s reaction been to Every Crooked Pot?
Everyone in my family read the book before it came out and they’ve all been overwhelmingly supportive. I come from a very close family and they know me, they know my intention. And I have so many fun memories to draw from – some of them were just too good to leave out! I know that if my father were still alive, he would have had a good laugh over Artie’s antics.
What do you hope to reveal to your readers through the novel?
I think a big message in this book is that family love is complex and defining. Also, I wanted to reveal that we are all lovable, and that even when we can’t see past our imperfections, someone else can and will—as long as we’re willing to let them. To take that thought a bit further, I think I wanted to show that even what we perceive to be our most hideous shortcomings can be transformed into something positive. Lastly, I think I wanted to convey that we grow up and become the people we are today because of the childhoods we had.
How did your relationship with the characters and the relationships between the characters themselves evolve over the course of writing and rewriting?
The wonderful and magical part about writing is that once you breathe a certain amount of life into a character, they take off. They come to life. They surprise you just as much as any human being ever could. So with each draft of this novel, these characters learned how to navigate around each other and me. One by one they came to the surface of the page and said, “This is me. This is who I am.” Sounds crazy, but writing is a partnership between the characters and the person channeling their stories onto the page.
Are you writing another book?
I am working on another book and have recently started thinking about a sequel to Every Crooked Pot. I’m not sure I’m done with Nina and the Goldmans just yet.
Book Clubs:
Are you in a book club? If you’d like, I’m available to join your discussions (that is, if Every Crooked Pot is the book you’re discussing! Otherwise, could be interesting, but probably not too insightful) To set it up, just contact me at the email below and if you’re in the Chicago area, I’ll do my best to attend in person, otherwise, you’ll have me via speakerphone. everycrookedpot@gmail.com
Links:
For Writers:
24/8 Bookclub
Backspace
Backstory
Bookslut
Buzz, Balls &Hype
Publishers Marketplace
A Newbie's Guide To Publishing
Good Girls Kill
For Hemangioma Information & Support:
www.birthmarks.com
www.birthmark.org
www.shareasmilefoundation.org
www.hemangiomatreatment.org
www.novanews.org
www.aboutfaceusa.org |
