CBC: The Sessions (a.k.a. The Review Book)

Interview with Sal Mason

Name: Sal Mason

Wattpad username: 

Favourite quote: 'Never give up on your dreams, they were given to you for a reason.'

Currently writing: Trapped (Mystery/Thriller about the aftermath of a kidnapping), My Best Friend's Wedding Disaster (Chicklit romance about a girl who finds out her best friend is gay and planning to marry her twin brother), Road to Recovery (Living With The Choices We Make Sequel)

Currently reading: The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

Currently eating/drinking a lot of: I have always been a chocolate junky and love ice cream, otherwise, I eat loads of pizza, Chinese food and most of all Sushi. My absolute favorite drink at the moment is ice tea (peach and lemon).

Favourite non-literary hobby: There aren't many and always involve my kids, so probably playing WiiU computer games with my son (mostly Lego games and Skylanders), going shopping and drinking coffee with my daughter and taking walks on the beach with the kids and our pug, Einstein.

Authors who you love: John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Michael Ende, and our very own Elicia Hyder (who may have been the one who made me cry the most during any read XD)

Tell us about how you started writing:

I have always written on and off since I discovered my love for reading (maybe at the age of ten or eleven) and even took some creative writing classes in college. I never actually completed anything back then since the ideas just kept rolling and after a while, I grew bored and moved on to the next. Forums like Wattpad were not available and I never thought I was good enough to get published.

When I met my husband and went to law school, I stopped (other than writing legal briefs which I guess can be considered creative writing at times, LOL). I was in the classical co-dependent relationship and writing could have taken away from the time my husband demanded, so it was put on the back burner.

For years, I was busy with other stuff, and after he died, I was consumed with raising my kids and juggling family and work. Last summer, my daughter discovered Wattpad and that got me in the mood to pick up a pen again (or better said, peck away at the keyboard). I finished a 180K monster dystopian novel that has been banned to the furthest depth of my virtual filing cabinet and which is horrible (all tell, no show) before trying out some other ideas and finally settling on LWTCWM early this year. It is only the second book I have ever completed.

Would you like to write for a living? If so, why/not? At the moment, I really don't like my job so I would love to write for a living. It would give me great joy and also guarantee that I could live wherever I wanted.

Why did you pick this story to be featured? It was the only one that was ChickLit and had the required amount of chapters :)

What inspired you to write this story?

Since college, I have always been an advocate against domestic violence and worked for many years with abused women in the court system and in shelters. I think it is an important social topic that affects women (and also men) across all ages and backgrounds. Unfortunately, it has still not received the recognition it should with the victims being often the ones blamed for their stupidity and weakness.

I was hoping that my story will break through some of those stereotypes. Many teenagers also don't realize that abuse can happen at any moment during their lives and that domestic violence often doesn't surface until they are fully invested in the relationship. Making readers, especially younger ones, aware of these issues has been my main driver for writing this book.

What is your favourite relationship in this story? 

I think my favorite relationship in this story is that of Rena and Doc. In the end, they bring out the best in each other, but it's a struggle and a journey which takes place in the background since it is only a side plot. They need each other to succeed and despite their huge differences, they teach the other a great deal.

What do you think makes this story stand out? 

Domestic Violence is often still a taboo topic but many people are interested in it, but have no idea how to approach it. Though the story is a work of fiction, many elements embedded are either from personal experience or experience of other victims which makes the story more accessible. It's raw with a lot of emotions but the tears are real and shed by many every day. I think it is something readers appreciate because it brings them closer to the topic.

What do you hope readers take away from this story?

The story is mostly designed to raise awareness. As I pointed out above, women in domestic violence situation (and I am only using this as an example since there are also many men affected) are still often the one who are at least partially blamed by society. I can't count the times I heard people say "It's her own fault. If she really wanted to, she could leave him." What they don't realize is that it's not that easy. Feelings are involved, fear of the unknown and there is often an economic dependency that is underestimated. Once children are in the picture, matters are even more complicated.

There is also a huge stigma involved. Why me? What makes me the victim of an abuser? The answer is often that victims feel that there is something wrong with them because they just don't seem to get it and which contributes further to their low self-esteem. It's a huge step which many can't take alone and I hope that my story will find some more helping hands willing to give victims the necessary support.