Saturday, January 26, 2013

My B-Spot: Author Interviews

My B-Spot: Author Interviews: Interview with Paige Bleu, Author of Finding Summerland I am pleased to post this interview with indie author Paige Bleu who has written ...

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Interview With Author Monica Lee

Interview With Author Monica Lee
Today we get to chat with the always groovy Monica Lee, author of, The Percussionist’s Wife: A Memoir of Sex, Crime & Betrayal. Her true story is unbelievable.....so let's not waste a moment!!

Interview With Author Monica Lee

1.      What is your book about?
“The Percussionist’s Wife: A Memoir of Sex, Crime & Betrayal” is the true story of my first marriage to a man who was charged with a sex crime with one of his drumline students. I write about how we met, what happened with the student, why I stayed with him for five years after the crime and why I eventually left the marriage. I hope it’s a modern parable on faith and faithfulness.

2.      What makes your book different than others in your genre?
Reviewers often use the words “brave” and “honest.” I don’t candy-coat the facts of the crime, which I think few people are willing to address publicly, or my own poor choices. A member at my church read the book, and he said he had to shield his eyes when he read some passages. I said, “Well, one can’t very well write a book with sex in the title without writing about sex!”

3.      What makes a good memoir?
A good memoir requires a big turning point, a moment of realization when the protagonist finally “gets it,” and that requires the writer to have a certain amount of transparency and introspection. Not all memoirists have that, especially celebrities. Beyond that, all good writing – in memoir or otherwise – requires details: Good description, dialogue that rings true or evocative characters.

4.      Is your writing style similar to any well-known writers?
There’s a great website, “I Write Like,” that compares one’s writing to famous authors, and it says I write like James Foster Wallace who wrote “The Pale King,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. It’s actually an unfinished novel because Wallace committed suicide so I only know for sure that like “The Pale King,” my story is unfinished.

5.      How long did it take you to write your book?
I started writing it in 2006 when I left my first husband and I took up the manuscript a couple of times in the years that followed, but I couldn’t finish it until 2011. Writing it required me to process a lot of emotion, and it wasn’t easy, but I felt so much lighter when I was done.

6.      Who is your muse?
I always tell people my mother is my muse. I write a daily blog about my life in general, and when I don’t know what to write, I think about what I would tell my mother about my day. She encourages me to think deeply, keeps me honest and loves me unconditionally.

7.      What are your hobbies?
I took up running about the same time I started pondering a divorce in 2006 even though I had never run more than the length of a basketball court, and I ran a marathon five months later (that’s Chapter 22!). I don’t run long distances anymore, but I still run 10 or 15 miles a week. I’m a lot more pleasant to be around on days I run, and I sleep better.

8.      What are you working on now?
I’m working on a prequel of sorts based on my diary from 1982 when I turned 15 and learned to French kiss; I think it’s hard to write about life without writing about sex, maybe? It’s interesting because I see now how much of my character was already formed at that stage and also because it’s a more fun, much lighter look at my life than “The Percussionist’s Wife.” Oh, to be young again!

Monica Lee is a writer and personal historian who lives in northern Illinois.
Check her out:
Interview With Author Monica Lee

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Please make sure to leave a comment for Monica, check out her sites & support groovy authors all around you....WORDS ARE ETERNAL <3 

~Peace Paige