Q: Welcome! Let's begin with the timeless question, a fan favorite, tell me a little bit about yourself? Hobbies, interests, career, how you found Wattpad...?
A: I think it was a Publisher's Weekly article about "the future of fiction" that led me to Wattpad. That was 2015, I think, and I've been hooked on Wattpad ever since. As for hobbies, I do a few things when I'm not writing. First, I love to read (fiction and nonfiction). I'm a big fan of really long walks, both for exercise and because walking is a great way to reduce anxiety and clear my head. I try to do yoga once a week, and while I'm not a great yogi by any stretch (see what I did there?), I'm pleased to say that I do a solid job of showing up for regular yoga sessions. I am also a Dodgers fan, although it looks like this baseball season might not happen :(
Q: From what I have read on your profile, you have had quite a unique journey in your career and writing. Tell me about how your life has informed your perspectives and your writing.
A: I began my career as a lawyer, but I really hated it, so after two very miserable years I switched to journalism. For me, journalism was a great way to build storytelling skills and fuel my curiosity. I covered a range of beats - law, advertising, tech, and adult entertainment. Believe it or not, there was actually a lot of overlap between those beats. I loved being a journalist, but I didn't love the paycheck. So, after about a decade of journalism, I switched to PR, which is a different type of storytelling. Along the way, I was always doing creative writing on the side - screenplays at first, then creative nonfiction, and ultimately, fiction. For me, everything in my journey is relevant in some way. There are writers who can spin a story out of nothing, but I'm not one of those writers. Whatever I write has to come from a real place, even if the story is kind of off-the-wall.
Q: Tell me about your experience with Wattpad. How has your writing experience been affected by Wattpad?
A: I think of Wattpad as a hack for storytelling. I'm a little older than the typical Wattpad user, so back when I started out there really wasn't a place to put your story in front of a live audience. What I love about Wattpad is that you get instant reader reactions. I don't always take feedback or advice from Wattpad readers, but I'm always looking for audience reaction. Does a joke work? Does a storyline make sense? Do people connect with a character? Those are the kinds of questions I ask myself whenever I look at Wattpad comments. Usually, I find that if enough people are reacting to something, I have a pretty good sense of whether or not it's working.
Q: What inspired you to begin writing Coffee Talk? Was there a specific story/real-life moment that inspired you to begin the collection? If so, what was this story?
A: About a year after I quit journalism and went into PR, I noticed that my byline was starting to disappear from the internet. I was still writing a lot, but I guess I was sort of freaked out by the idea that my work seemed to be disappearing. So, I started writing humorous vignettes about my life and sharing them on Facebook. I think I was just trying to remind my friends and colleagues that I still existed and that I was still writing, but as it turned out, people really liked the stories. Eventually, I realized that I had enough stories to start making collections based around certain themes. I have a lot of coffee shop and barista stories because I like to write in coffee shops. But I also have a lot of stories about telemarketers - I love to mess with telemarketers! And I have quite a few stories about doing yoga. I moved these stories to Wattpad for two reasons. First, I wanted to organize them as story collections. There's Coffee Talk, Tuesdays with Telemarketers, and Yoga Diary. The second reason I moved them from Facebook to Wattpad is that I wanted to know how readers who didn't know me personally would respond to stories where a fictional version of me is often the main character.
Q: Do you have a favorite chapter in Coffee Talk?
A: Don't make me pick! OK, I'll pick one of my favorites. I really like "The Walking Dumbass." To me, that story is a good example of the kinds of absurd conversations that seem to happen in and around coffee houses. Maybe it's the caffeine or the fact that coffee houses are magnets for creative people. Or, maybe it's because I always try to follow the yes/and rule of improv comedy, which is to take what the other person said and build on it. To this day, I don't know how it happened, but "The Walking Dumbass" is a story about how I unknowingly got into a very in-depth conversation about the zombie apocalypse with someone who turned out to be a cast member of The Walking Dead.
Q: In reading Coffee Talk, after every chapter, I am left with a feeling of a lesson learned. What do you learn from your writing? What do you hope readers take away from your writing?
A: First and foremost, I want readers to laugh. These are funny stories, and I firmly believe that laughing as often as possible makes you a better person. But I'm glad you picked up on the fact that there's usually a lesson in the story too. Yes, these are quick comedic sketches, but I work hard to try and bring out the humanity in the story. I hope readers come away from my stories with a laugh and maybe a little more compassion, or empathy, or kindness for other people.
Q: How is Coffee Talk different from your other stories and writing? What other types of writing do you practice?
A: Everything I write is humorous in some way, but I do a few different kinds of stories. I write crime capers for adults. I also write YA stories on Wattpad for the young and young at heart. Coffee Talk, along with the other collections I mentioned, are different in two ways. First, the stories are short - usually less than 1,000 words. Second, Coffee Talk stories are more truth than fiction, and of course, truth is stranger than fiction. Basically, something happens in real life and I jam out a story as quickly as possible. Sometimes the story is 100% true, and sometimes I have to embellish something or add a little fiction to make it work, but the idea is to capture a slice of life.
Q: Where is your favorite place to write and why?
A: I love to write in coffee houses. I like the noise and the people. I know those things can be distracting, but they give me energy.
Q: Why do you write and what are your goals in your writing?
A: I write because I really love to connect with people. I love that feeling when a stranger tells me that something I wrote made them laugh, or think about something in a different way. My goal is pretty simple: expand the number of people I reach.
Q: I would be remiss if I didn't ask you this question- what is your favorite coffee order?
A: Oat milk latte! Unless they have hemp milk. Or, if they make their own alternative milk in-house, I'll order a latte with that milk. Basically, I'll always take a latte, but I need to know a lot about the alternative milks they have on offer.
Q: Is there anything additional you would like to share?
A: The pandemic kind of put a halt to new Coffee Talk stories. In fact, I haven't written in a coffee house since February of 2020. Yikes! It bummed me out, but I marked Coffee Talk as complete on Wattpad, even though my original plan was to leave it as an ongoing story forever. Anyway, during the pandemic I had to find a new way to share my funny slice of life stories, and so I turned to Substack. I use Substack as my author newsletter, so it's free to subscribe, and every Sunday I send out a new story. I'm pleased to say that quite a few Wattpadders subscribe to my Substack. If you'd like to join my email list, click here!
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Interviews
RandomWelcome to the AdultFic interview book. Inside you'll find interview sessions with inspiring authors posted each month, as well as helpful hints for readers and writers alike.
