"The Write Life: Local author is flying high with first novel" I was interviewed by a reporter from a local newspaper last week and the article came out today. I'm excited. Won't lie. It's a newspaper that reaches about half the state of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the Union, roughly the size of the city of Dallas. Which means the article reaches about half of one American city. I don't care. It may as well be the cover of the New York Times. I made the cover of the East Bay Life section (our equivalent to the cover of People Magazine) and I look pretty good. I also don't sound like a bumbling idiot, which is equally important! Reading through the article, a few things stood out to me.
"Conway tried to go the traditional route to publishing nirvana--for about a week...but quickly realized the follow-through was more important to her than the promise of a big payday." I said those words, and they're true to a degree. Traditional is not a word anyone would associate with me. But who doesn't want a big payday? Of course I'd love a publisher to swoop in and take over all of the marketing nonsense, publicity, scheduling signings, etc... I'm very open to a large book advance and all that entails. I think a more accurate phrase would be, "Conway didn't have the patience to wait for the traditional publishing route to bear fruit." That's an honest and true statement. Patience is also not a word I'd use to describe me. Not traditional. Not patient.
"I self-published with zero expectations." Also true, to a degree. There was that little niggling hope that something would come of this new found passion. But if it didn't? I could live with it. Opening the package that contained my novel and feeling its weight in my hands, flipping through its pages was one of the most satisfying moments of my life. I want people to love my book, buy my book, turn my book into a bestseller and eventually a movie. I want to make buckets of money and spend my days writing in my new cottage on the water. Preferably in Nantucket...but Rhode Island has a lot to offer! I'm not picky.
"Writing feeds my soul and working with kids means a lot to me." I hope I didn't actually say 'means a lot to me' but I guess I did, because everything else in the article is dead on. Working with kids means the world to me. I love teaching. Our country is failing its children with standardization and testing and core math I can't help my third grader with. But there's a whole movement out there, people who are shaking things up and trying to fix this broken-down system. I've met a group of innovators in this master's program and I want to be one of the people who helps fix it. For my kids. For your kids. For my grandkids one day (I hope that day is a long ways away!)
"I read an article that said writing my autobiography would be therapeutic...I was about an hour into it and I thought 'Dear God, this is boring! I already know what happens." True, true statement, though my life has been anything but boring. But reliving it by writing it all down is boring for me. And painful to a degree. That's what journals and therapists are for! I enjoy getting lost in another world, writing alternatives to the path I've taken. Escapism? Yes, it is. But much healthier than other methods of escaping. Like drinking or drugs.
And lastly...the title. "The Write Life". Ms. Nadalin...I couldn't have said it any better myself. For the first time in a very long time, I finally feel like I'm on the right path. Hallelujah.