What makes a Writer? Ask my Mom and Dad…

So I know I’ve been posting my fair share of interviews with me, lately, on the CANDOR Facebook fan page and via Twitter… so I thought I’d turn the tables a bit.

I interviewed my Mom and Dad.

Below you will find the unvarnished and revealing words of the brave people who raised me and bought me a TRS-80 so I could write rambling stories about mermaids. And now I know why they are so happy about this book being published: at least I did not become an actress.

Yet.

Kidding… probably. Love you, Mom and Dad.

Q. Some people ask me what sort of trauma I experienced as a child, because I write dark things. Can either of you shed any light of this?
DAD: Trauma, you want trauma? Two incidents stand out. The very first bath and the result was a blood curdling yell. I can still feel it. The second was when the road test did not end in success. The second blood curdling scream of excruciating pain was heard. The crystal in the closet vibrated, the guinea pigs dug deep into the litter and the Westminster Chimes missed the quarter-hour strike.

MOM: I remember a nightmare when you could not be convinced that there wasn’t a squirrel running around your room. Even in the morning, you couldn’t be convinced. Does chicken for dinner every third night count as trauma?

Q. What was your first clue that I might end up being a writer?
MOM: Oh boy – all those stories you wrote and illustrated from the time you could hold a crayon! And you “read” every one of those to us! I also remember a very cute second-grader announcing to me that someday she was going to be a real writer (like Mrs. Ellis, I do believe.)

DAD: When you were published in the BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educations Services) talent review. But then again there was that software review you wrote for a magazine at an early age.

Q. Which one of my varied career ambitions made you most worried for my future?

DAD: Easy, when you wanted to go to BU and enroll in the school of dramatics or performing arts - whichever! All I could picture was a poor starving young woman looking for crusts of bread in the back of Italian restaurants in NYC.

MOM: Without a doubt, your acting/singing ambitions. I will always be grateful to the Boston U interviewer who convinced you that you would need a back-up career! And from that, a communications major was born. WHEW!

Q. How do you think parents can best encourage their children to love reading and writing?

DAD: By reading to them every night. Have books and magazine readily available and let your children see parents reading. Children learn by imitation and if parents don't read, how will children get the message? With all candor it is very important the children get the message. (Pam’s note: Do you see? They promote for me at every turn. Is that love or WHAT?)

MOM: Read, read, read! Parents who read to and with their children are giving them the best gift possible.  Writing follows reading, but not every avid reader enjoys writing (such as your mother). And if you remember, you and I read together until you were in middle school. After that, we read the same books and discussed them.  There is no such thing as reading too much with your children! I also recommend a trip to the bookstore as a great reward for a good report card.

Q. What's the craziest thing you've done to promote your beloved daughter's book?

DAD: I visit Borders on a regular basis and keeping moving CANDOR to the front of the shelf. I also started a thread featuring the book on my BMW motorcycle forum.

MOM: Hmm, I don’t know about “craziest” but I’ve certainly been promoting it to anyone who will listen to me! I’ve sent out e-mails periodically to everyone who has expressed an interest in your writing, and that list of people has grown over the past months. My CURVES buddies know about it, I announced it at the Music Company Orchestra rehearsal Monday night, and I check any bookstore I’m near to see if it’s there and is placed “properly.” Now if you send me a Candor T-shirt . . . who knows what I might do!