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Paula Meseroll is a public relations professional and award-winning freelance writer/editor/columnist whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines, including Syracuse University Magazine, UB Today, Central New Yorker Magazine, and All Kids Considered. A summa cum laude graduate of Marywood University with a degree in communication arts/public relations, Meseroll is director of marketing and communications at Syracuse University. She’s here today to talk about Flossie Turner Lewis and their new book, Little Hot Mama.

Q: How did you first learn about Flossie Turner Lewis?

[image error]A: I met Flossie at the Laubach Literacy/Literacy Volunteers of America national conference held in San Diego in 2002. Flossie had won the National Award For Excellence as the Outstanding Student of the Year and as the editor of Laubach Literacy’s newsletter, LitScape, I had the chance to interview her. As a long-time reporter and freelance writer, I know a good story when I hear one and Flossie’s had everything—family conflict, the glamour of show business, a woman’s struggle to make a life for herself and her children on her own while being unable to read or write. I also saw her hold a room full of people spellbound as she gave her award acceptance speech, telling of her life in show business and her struggle with illiteracy. She is, in a word, amazing.

Q: For those readers who aren’t familiar with her name, please tell us who Flossie Turner Lewis is.

A: Flossie Turner Lewis began delighting audiences with songs and dances in 1935, when she was just two years old. Known by her stage name “Little Hot Mama,� she was the child of black show business stars Hot Papa and Dolly Turner. Flossie, along with her sister LuLu B. and brother Junior, traveled with their parents and performed as the Turner Family Revue. Her own show business career lasted for more than 40 years. She performed on the carnival and chitlin circuits, in speakeasies and minstrel shows, and in the swank nightclubs of Miami’s Overtown where the Turner Family shared venues with other black entertainment greats of the day. From the Deep South to Miami, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles, Flossie lived her life as a performer, a mother, an eyewitness to racial discrimination and turmoil, and a woman who could not read or write—until she decided to learn how at the age of 65. She is now almost 78, has earned an honorary high school diploma, is the most requested speaker for the United Way in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has lobbied Congress and state legislatures on behalf of literacy organizations, and is much in demand as a commencement speaker.

Q: How did Little Hot Mama, your book co-written with Flossie Turner Lewis come about?

A: At the literacy conference, we exchanged business cards and I told Flossie if she wanted to work together to write her memoir, I would be happy to do so. When the conference was over, I went back home to Syracuse and got busy with other projects. Several months later, I found her card in a desk drawer and decided to give her a call. She told me other writers had offered to work with her to tell her story. She said she had to pray about me to see if I was the one she should work with and she’d let me know. A few days later, she called me back and said the answer was yes.

Q: Who’s your target audience?

A: Flossie’s story is interesting on so many levels that practically anyone would find it a great read. Literacy students, tutors, people interested in African American, black entertainment, and women’s history would all be especially enthralled.

Q: What would you like readers to get out of the book?

A: Most of all, I would like people to be entertained. That is the basis of everything Flossie did in her show business life—for the Turner Family, despite poverty, hunger, and her father’s gambling addiction, the show really did have to go on. I hope readers will be as deeply moved as I am by her story.

[image error]Q: What makes this woman’s story so special?

A: Flossie’s story is the inspiring tale of one woman’s struggle to make a successful life for herself and her children, despite the roadblocks of racism and illiteracy. Her first-person accounts of life on the minstrel show and chitlin circuit are a part of American history that perhaps no other living person can tell.
Flossie is an astoundingly strong woman who refused to be defeated by circumstance. She met everything life threw at her and overcame it all. The book has moments of intense pain and anguish—such as Flossie’s experience of being a poor, black single mother with a brain-damaged child, as well as the night when Flossie’s beloved mother died in her arms. But there are also parts where readers will literally laugh out loud—many of the hilarious plot shows that the Turner Family was famous for are described in detail. There are 35 pages of photos of Flossie, her family, and the entertainers they worked with.

Q: Tell us about the actual writing process of this book. What was it like working with Flossie?

A: Since Flossie lives in North Carolina and I live in upstate New York, we did all of our interviews by phone. Some nights we spoke for a few minutes, other times for hours. We laughed and cried together as she dredged up memories she’d submerged for decades—to get the details, I asked about many things she didn’t want to think about because the memories were too painful. Flossie likes to say that I know more about her than she does. Her recollections are intensely vivid—her family became so real to me that I actually dreamed about them at night. I have literally hundreds of hours of taped interviews which were made over the course of more than a year. During that time, we became more than collaborators. We are very good friends. Then came the hard part—organizing Flossie’s sometimes chaotic life into a readable manuscript and writing her story.

Q: What was the most challenging part of writing this book?

A: Flossie and I could not be more different—she’s African American, I’m white. I’ve been reading since before I started kindergarten, words were just jumbles to her until she was in her late 60s. I graduated from college with highest honors; Flossie’s schooling was practically non-existent most of her life. There were times I had to research what she told me—names, dates, places—because she didn’t know how to spell them. Her life was so vastly different than mine that I literally had to submerge my own personality to write in Flossie’s voice. In that, I think I was successful—more than one person who has read the book has asked me if I am African American because I had the words and usage so right.

Q: Where is the book available?

A: Little Hot Mama: The Flossie Turner Lewis Story is available on Amazon.com as a Kindle e-book. It is also available as an e-book to libraries to purchase for unlimited lending to patrons.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers?

A: Flossie and I, our literary agent, Leticia Gómez, and our publisher, Stay Thirsty Media, have joined together to donate 50 cents from the sale of every digital copy of our book to The Flossie Turner Lewis Literacy Fund at ProLiteracy to support the most worthy cause of adult literacy.

Read more about Flossie Turner Lewis and "Little Hot Mama":

Set in Atlanta and the Ohio farm region before, during and after World War II, First Love, Last Dance is the touching, heart-warming true story of Elise and Peter, a couple who first fell deeply in love in their late teens/early twenties but weren’t able to reunite until their late seventies. It’s refreshing to read about such real life stories.

Told from the point of view of Elise’s daughter Nancy Rossman, this memoir begins in Atlanta in the late 30s and spans several decades all the way to the present.

Elise is a beautiful Southern girl from an upper-class upbringing. At the young age of 19, she meets Peter, the man who sweeps her off her feet. They fall in love. Unfortunately, Elise’s controlling, domineering and old fashioned mother has other plans for her daughter. Believing that Peter isn’t the right match for Elise, she does her best to influence her daughter’s decision until, tragically, she succeeds. Instead of marrying Peter, Elise marries a Navy pilot who, though handsome and smart, isn’t the right person for her. As a young bride, Elise’s life changes radically: her new husband takes her to rural Ohio to work on a farm. Elise is soon torn with bittersweet feelings of frustration and, at times, unhappiness. Then something happens� Each year on her birthday, Elise receives a mystery call from the South� Could it be her long lost love?

Though I’m not a big fan of memoirs, I must say I enjoyed reading this one. Written with special attention to detail, First Love, Last Dance is a celebration of love that will warm readers� hearts. It is also a celebration of hope and second chances. True-love story lovers will relish the hope and optimism in it, while fans of Southern writing will take pleasure in the historical aspect of the setting and characters. The family dynamics in the story are interesting, too, portraying values and traditions particular to the South and the Ohio rural regions. Above all, this is the story of one strong woman, Elise, a woman who never gave up on a memory and a promise.

The author wrote the memoir as a gift and tribute to her mother Elise. What a wonderful gift to offer a mother! If you’re a fan of true love stories, you must pick this one up. This book will also make a lovely gift on Valentine’s Day.

About the author: Nancy Rossman has been a storyteller her entire life. Following a twenty-nine year career as a commercial real estate broker, Nancy turned to her first love of writing. Over the past eleven years she has studied with such notables as Alan Furst, Dorothy Allison, Abigail Thomas and Ann Hood. First Love, Last Dance is her first book. It is a memoir about hope and second chances.

Related links:



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First Love, Last Dance

Set in Atlanta and the Ohio farm region before, during and after World War II, First Love, Last Dance is the touching, heart-warming true story of Elise and Peter, a couple who first fell deeply in love in their late teens/early twenties but weren’t able to reunite until their late seventies. It’s refreshing to read about such real life stories.

Told from the point of view of Elise’s daughter Nancy Rossman, this memoir begins in Atlanta in the late 30s and spans several decades all the way to the present.

Elise is a beautiful Southern girl from an upper-class upbringing. At the young age of 19, she meets Peter, the man who sweeps her off her feet. They fall in love. Unfortunately, Elise’s controlling, domineering and old fashioned mother has other plans for her daughter. Believing that Peter isn’t the right match for Elise, she does her best to influence her daughter’s decision until, tragically, she succeeds. Instead of marrying Peter, Elise marries a Navy pilot who, though handsome and smart, isn’t the right person for her. As a young bride, Elise’s life changes radically: her new husband takes her to rural Ohio to work on a farm. Elise is soon torn with bittersweet feelings of frustration and, at times, unhappiness. Then something happens� Each year on her birthday, Elise receives a mystery call from the South� Could it be her long lost love?

Though I’m not a big fan of memoirs, I must say I enjoyed reading this one. Written with special attention to detail, First Love, Last Dance is a celebration of love that will warm readers� hearts. It is also a celebration of hope and second chances. True-love story lovers will relish the hope and optimism in it, while fans of Southern writing will take pleasure in the historical aspect of the setting and characters. The family dynamics in the story are interesting, too, portraying values and traditions particular to the South and the Ohio rural regions. Above all, this is the story of one strong woman, Elise, a woman who never gave up on a memory and a promise.

The author wrote the memoir as a gift and tribute to her mother Elise. What a wonderful gift to offer a mother! If you’re a fan of true love stories, you must pick this one up. This book will also make a lovely gift on Valentine’s Day.

About the author: Nancy Rossman has been a storyteller her entire life. Following a twenty-nine year career as a commercial real estate broker, Nancy turned to her first love of writing. Over the past eleven years she has studied with such notables as Alan Furst, Dorothy Allison, Abigail Thomas and Ann Hood. First Love, Last Dance is her first book. It is a memoir about hope and second chances.

Related links:



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First Love, Last Dance

Jay D Roberts MD is a board-certified physiatrist, specializing in the treatment of physical disabilities with a focus of adding quality to life. He is currently in private practice in California. He is a member and lecturer at national and international conferences related to his specialty, a contributing author toÌýCurrent Trends in Physiatry,Ìýand author of various scientific papers. In addition to his career, Dr. Roberts volunteers as part of a Christian ministry in maximum security prisons. He and his wife, parents of two grown sons, live in Indian Wells, California.ÌýBreak the ChainsÌýis Dr. Robertsâ€� first book. Following in the long tradition of doctors who combine their passion for saving lives with their passion for writing, Dr. Roberts is currently at work on a novel, concerning children forced to work in mines. VisitÌý

BUY BREAK THE CHAINS ONÌý/Ìý Ìý/ÌýÌý

Q: Tell us about the title of your book and what it means?

A:Ìý It is called Break the Chains, Transforming Shame into Forgiveness. Break the Chains has two means: 1.Ìý Stopping the cycle of abuse from father to son.Ìý 2.Ìý Breaking the chains that bind your heart with unforgiveness.

Q: Tell us why readers should read your book.

A:Ìý Many need to forgive themselves, God, or others who have harmed them. They may also need to ask forgiveness from someone they have hurt or done wrong. I hope that my book will help them with forgiveness, break their chains, and set them free.

Q: What was the hardest part of writing this memoir?

A:Ìý Telling the family secret and truly worried that my mother would die reading it.

Q: What has been the reaction so far from your friends, family and colleagues?

A:Ìý Absolutely amazing. People have thanked me and blessed me for telling my story. They feel my book will help them or their loved ones.Ìý The biggest overwhelming reaction was from my mother- after finishing my book she called me and asked me to forgive her for not protecting me as a child!

Q: In what way has this book been cathartic for you?

A:Ìý Immensely.Ìý I never had any form of therapy as a child. First, during my time you never revealed to anyone what went on inside your home. Second, only crazy people or those rich movie stars went to therapy. The process was painful, as I broke down the walls around my heart that had protected me for years and years. In fact, I stopped writing it for two years because of the pain.

Q: What last words would you like to say to my readers?

A:Ìý I pray that my book will help them or someone they love. Then, all the pain it took to write it and the fear of my mother’s death, will be all worth it.

is a an award-winning author (with several novels published under another name) and a former indie publisher now working as a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and book consultant.

About the Book

Heartwell chroniclesÌýher heroic (and often hilarious) determination to live an unremarkable life asÌýa member of a poverty-stricken, super-dysfunctionalÌýfamily that includes aÌýmostlyÌýabsent father,Ìýa religious fanatic mother, a kleptomaniac grandmother, and two special needsÌýsiblings, all residing more orÌýless in the middle of a parking lot. The storyÌýmoves from Heartwell’s lively coming of age in the sixties to her role asÌýcaretaker for both siblings afterÌýher parentsâ€� deaths, at which time she mustÌýresort to extraordinary measures to locate the midpoint between their needs andÌýher own.

BrilliantÌýand magical,ÌýHamster IslandÌýtakes its rightful place among such darkly comic andÌýoriginal memoirs as Augusten Burroughs’Ì�Running withÌýScissorsÌýand Jeannette Walls’Ì�The GlassÌýCastle.

Q: What’s inside the mind of a nonfiction author?

A: Generally I write fiction. But the circumstances of my youth—growing up the middle child between two special needs siblings in a family that was totally dysfunctional—are somewhat unique, and when friends suggested I write about them, I began to think it might be good to look at my life objectively, the way I would the subject of a novel. And it has been good. And even better, I am learning that my story is turning out to be helpful to a lot of other people.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Hamster Island

A: Well, number one, it’s a good story, truly told. Since I’m a fiction writer, it reads like a novel. There’s plenty of humour in it, and also plenty of heartbreak.

As far as being helpful to readers, Hamster Island addresses issues that are common to anyone who has a loved one with mental illness or developmental disabilities in their family, especially if they are siblings. As a kid, I was really shy to begin with, so I lived in fear that if I made a mistake—academic, social, whatever—people would assume there was something wrong with me too. That’s quite a challenge for a little kid/teenager. And of course I felt incredible guilt for feeling ashamed of my siblings, our poverty, our whole dysfunctional family, and even our house, which was more or less situated in the middle of a parking lot.

My book brings up a lot of social issues too that will be of interest to some readers. Hamster Island is the real deal. You can’t read it and not get what it’s really like for families to raise developmentally disabled and/or mentally ill kids—not wealthy families who have the money to do it in style with nannies and outside help, but working-class families who have to get up every day and fight for food stamps, Medicare, and social justice—often to the exclusion of their own needs. I can think of several prominent politicians who might learn a thing or two from reading Hamster Island and, I’d like to believe, might actually change their stance on how we deal with people who just can’t make it all on their own, without state and government programs.

Q: What makes a good memoir?

A: My favourite memoirs are those by writers who are able to look back and find the humour in the hard times. I’m thinking Mary Karr, Augusten Burroughs, Jeanette Walls, Rachel Simon. If what I’ve done with Hamster Island comes even close to their work, I’m thrilled.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: My personal writing schedule is irregular. I write for a living, generating everything from newsletters to full-length “ghost-written� manuscripts for clients. So I might only get one or two days a month free to work on my own projects. When I have a free day coming, I do the same thing I do when I have client work. I settle in front of my computer and I stay there for six or seven hours. For me, tenacity is key.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: The process. It’s fun. It suits my disposition.

Q: How did you celebrate the completion of your book?

A: By starting the next one.

is a an award-winning author (with several novels published under another name) and a former indie publisher now working as a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and book consultant.

About the Book

Heartwell chroniclesÌýher heroic (and often hilarious) determination to live an unremarkable life asÌýa member of a poverty-stricken, super-dysfunctionalÌýfamily that includes aÌýmostlyÌýabsent father,Ìýa religious fanatic mother, a kleptomaniac grandmother, and two special needsÌýsiblings, all residing more orÌýless in the middle of a parking lot. The storyÌýmoves from Heartwell’s lively coming of age in the sixties to her role asÌýcaretaker for both siblings afterÌýher parentsâ€� deaths, at which time she mustÌýresort to extraordinary measures to locate the midpoint between their needs andÌýher own.

BrilliantÌýand magical,ÌýHamster IslandÌýtakes its rightful place among such darkly comic andÌýoriginal memoirs as Augusten Burroughs’Ì�Running withÌýScissorsÌýand Jeannette Walls’Ì�The GlassÌýCastle.

Q: What’s inside the mind of a nonfiction author?

A: Generally I write fiction. But the circumstances of my youth—growing up the middle child between two special needs siblings in a family that was totally dysfunctional—are somewhat unique, and when friends suggested I write about them, I began to think it might be good to look at my life objectively, the way I would the subject of a novel. And it has been good. And even better, I am learning that my story is turning out to be helpful to a lot of other people.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Hamster Island

A: Well, number one, it’s a good story, truly told. Since I’m a fiction writer, it reads like a novel. There’s plenty of humour in it, and also plenty of heartbreak.

As far as being helpful to readers, Hamster Island addresses issues that are common to anyone who has a loved one with mental illness or developmental disabilities in their family, especially if they are siblings. As a kid, I was really shy to begin with, so I lived in fear that if I made a mistake—academic, social, whatever—people would assume there was something wrong with me too. That’s quite a challenge for a little kid/teenager. And of course I felt incredible guilt for feeling ashamed of my siblings, our poverty, our whole dysfunctional family, and even our house, which was more or less situated in the middle of a parking lot.

My book brings up a lot of social issues too that will be of interest to some readers. Hamster Island is the real deal. You can’t read it and not get what it’s really like for families to raise developmentally disabled and/or mentally ill kids—not wealthy families who have the money to do it in style with nannies and outside help, but working-class families who have to get up every day and fight for food stamps, Medicare, and social justice—often to the exclusion of their own needs. I can think of several prominent politicians who might learn a thing or two from reading Hamster Island and, I’d like to believe, might actually change their stance on how we deal with people who just can’t make it all on their own, without state and government programs.

Q: What makes a good memoir?

A: My favourite memoirs are those by writers who are able to look back and find the humour in the hard times. I’m thinking Mary Karr, Augusten Burroughs, Jeanette Walls, Rachel Simon. If what I’ve done with Hamster Island comes even close to their work, I’m thrilled.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: My personal writing schedule is irregular. I write for a living, generating everything from newsletters to full-length “ghost-written� manuscripts for clients. So I might only get one or two days a month free to work on my own projects. When I have a free day coming, I do the same thing I do when I have client work. I settle in front of my computer and I stay there for six or seven hours. For me, tenacity is key.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: The process. It’s fun. It suits my disposition.

Q: How did you celebrate the completion of your book?

A: By starting the next one.

Faye Rapoport DesPres is the author of the new memoir-in-essays, Message from a Blue Jay. She earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College. Her essays, fiction, poetry, and reviews have appeared in Ascent, International Gymnast Magazine, Platte Valley Review, Superstition Review, In the Arts, Fourth Genre, TheWhistling Fire, the Writer’s Chronicle, and other journals and magazines. Faye was born in New York City and has lived in England, Israel, and Colorado. She currently lives in the Boston area with her husband, Jean-Paul Des Pres, and their cats. Visit her website atÌý.Ìý

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About the book

From an astonishing blue jay to a lone humpback whale, from the back roads of her hometown to the streets of Jerusalem and the Tower of London, debut author Faye Rapoport DesPres examines a modern life marked by a passion for the natural world, unexpected love, and shocking loss, and her search for a place she can finally call home in this beautifully crafted memoir-in-essays.

Three weeks before DesPres's fortieth birthday, nothing about her life fit the usual mold. She is single, living in a rented house in Boulder, Colorado, fitting dance classes and nature hikes between workdays at a software start-up that soon won't exist. While contemplating a sky still hazy from summer wildfires, she decides to take stock of her nomadic life and find the real reasons she never "settled down." The choices she makes from that moment on lead her to retrace her steps-in the States and abroad-as she attempts to understand her life. But instead of going back, she finds herself moving forward to new love, horrible loss, and finally, in a way that she never expected, to a place she can almost call home.

Readers who love the memoirs and personal essays of rising contemporary writers such as Cheryl Strayed, Joy Castro, and Kim Dana Kupperman will appreciate Faye's observational eye, her passion for the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it, and her search for the surprising truths behind the events of our daily lives.



INTERVIEW:

Q: What’s inside the mind of a Creative Nonfiction author?

A: Every creative nonfiction writer has his or her own inspiration, ideas, and goals when it comes to writing. If we have anything in common, it might be the desire to not simply record true stories, but to find meaning and revelation in the world around us and the events of our lives.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy MESSAGE FROM A BLUE JAY.

A: Message From a Blue Jay offers insight into one writer’s life, observations, and interpretations of the world, but it also provides fodder for thoughts about readers� own lives. Readers who enjoy learning about different places, readers who enjoy observing and picking up cues from the natural world, and readers who enjoy self-searching and growth should all enjoy the book. I’ve been told that it’s a difficult book to put down because readers get drawn in very quickly. Writers who are interested in the personal essay genre and the craft of prose might enjoy the different approaches to creative nonfiction that appear in the book.

Q: What makes a good Memoir or Memoir-in-Essays?

A: Like any good book, a good memoir (or memoir-in-essays) contains an absorbing story that captures the reader’s attention and imagination, and takes readers on an interesting ride. It’s also thought-provoking, illuminating, and well-written.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: This varies; when I’m involved in a particular project, I often write from 5 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. until 7 a.m. in the mornings. I have to work at other jobs to make a living, so if I don’t get my writing done early in the morning, before the rest of the world hits, I often don’t get to it later in the day. Sometimes this changes, however. If I have revisions to do for a deadline, I might work on them at any time of the day.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: It has been a life-long dream to publish a book-length manuscript, so it is fulfilling to know that I worked hard and stuck with that dream, and made it happen. Since the book was published, it has been most rewarding to hear from readers who have said that they couldn’t put the book down and that they related to many of the things I wrote about. Some readers have said the book really moved them or made them feel less alone in their own feelings or observations. That’s wonderful.

Sharon van Ivan lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her two cats, The Duke and Earl.Ìý She was born in Brooklyn New York and couldn’t wait to move back to New York when she grew up.Ìý Her parents divorced when she was a baby and she lived with her mother in Akron, Ohio, until she returned to New York in her early 20s.Ìý There she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and was a working actress for many years.Ìý But she was always writing.Ìý Her debut as a playwright was when she was 10 years old and living in Sacramento, California.Ìý She wrote about the hardships of a young girl in Mexico.Ìý The play was so good, it was presented to the whole school.Ìý Sharon was mortified and did not write again until high school.Ìý Then when she had a writing assignment, she would dream about it the night before, and write it just before class.Ìý She was an A student in English.Ìý Not the most popular person in school, however.

Growing up with an alcoholic and, therefore, mentally ill mother and a mostly-absent father (plus a slew of stepfathers) was a challenge that Sharon met head-on � as she had no choice. Later in life when she did have a choice, the patterns had already been set and she followed a similarly disastrous road until she found show business, a great psychiatrist and the love of her life, the renowned realist painter, Charles Pfahl.

Purchase Juggle and Hide on .

Q: What’s inside the mind of a memoir author?

A: Memories � both good and bad � that have been with me throughout my life. The memories are like slides stuck in a corner of my brain that I need to sort out so that I can go on to write about other things.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Juggle and Hide.

A: Juggle and Hide has a great cover.Ìý It’s a photo of a painting â€� also entitled Juggle and Hide â€� that my husband worked on while I wrote the book. I also believe my story might help others who suffered by growing up in a parent’s alcoholic blackout and then going on to become alcoholics themselves -- even though they swore they never would. And how they came through it all. We are all survivors.

Q: What makes a good memoir?

A: People learning how do deal with their troubled lives. How to live with something horrible from childhood, or even later â€� even now â€� and then being able to see that they’re not alone.Ìý We can survive even some of the darkest times, accept our losses and move on without fear if we can relate to others who have experienced the same horrors or similar horrors.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: I always begin the day by writing in my journal.Ìý Otherwise, I’m sad to say that I am not very disciplined as a writer and I am high-level procrastinator.Ìý Every day is different for me writing-wise unless I’m really caught up in a project and then I’m writing all day every day. Very erratic way of writing.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: Completing a project. Being able to stay home and create something from nothing.Ìý Well, not actually nothing.Ìý And people.Ìý I am one of those who who listens all the time to what people are saying: on their phones, in a restaurant, anywhere.Ìý It often doesn’t mean anything at the time, but something important may come out of it later.

Linda DeFruscio is the founder and president of A & A Laser, Electrolysis & Skin Care Associates in Newtonville, MA. In addition to Cornered, her memoir about her friendship with Richard Sharpe, she is currently writing a book on skin care and completing a book of profiles based on interviews with transgender people, many of whom are her clients. WhileCornered is her first book, her skin care articles have been published in magazines for years. Connect with the author on Ìýand via her .

About the Book

In the year 2000, Linda DeFruscio was forced to make an unthinkable decision. Someone whose genius she admired immensely,Ìýa business associate and dear friend, committed a terrible crime. In response, she could cut off their friendship and avoid the risk of losing friends, clients and her own peace of mind—or, she could trust her gut and try to save some aspect of her friend’s humanity.

Cornered is Linda DeFruscio’s story of her long and often complex association with Dr. Richard J. Sharpe, the millionaire dermatologist from Gloucester, MA who was convicted of killing his wife. Beautifully written and surprisingly tender, Corneredallows the reader an upfront view of the fragility of genius and the decline into madness, all while casting a second light on how one woman’s refusal to turn her back resulted in momentous changes in her own life.

Find out more on .

Q: What’s inside the mind of a non-fiction author?

A:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý My day job is working as an electrologist (someone who removes unwanted hair from clientsâ€� bodies) and an aesthetician (someone who helps clients enhance their skin and features so that they can be their most beautiful selves). I wouldn’t be as good at what I do if I didn’t enjoy focusing on details. My love for details informs my writing as well. I am a taker of notes, a collector of information. When I decide to write something, whether it is an article on skincare for a magazine or something personal, as in the case of my memoir, I find I already have notes tucked away to get me get me started.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Cornered.

A:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Cornered is my story of my long and complicated association with Dr. Richard J. Sharpe, the millionaire dermatologist from Gloucester, MA who was convicted of killing his wife in 2000.ÌýHe had been my friend and business mentor before his crime, and afterwards I had to decide whether I would continue to befriend him. It was not an easy decision to make. He was a troubled man who did a terrible thing. For nine years, from 2000 to 2009 when he died, the media couldn’t get enough of him. They covered every moment of his trial, his imprisonment, his various suicide attempts and finally his death. So did I, in a sense. As his friend and confidante, I achieved a better understanding of the inner workings of his mind than the jury or the journalists or the psychiatrists ever did. I met most of the people who walked in and out of his life after his incarceration. I came to understand the motivations of the various women who offered him their support—and often a lot more—while he was in prison.

Cornered is a virtual banquet for psych fans. If you liked the book (or film) about Richard Nash (A Beautiful Mind), you will probably like Cornered as well. Moreover, in order to tell Richard Sharpe’s story, I also had to reveal details about my own life. My father was a member of the Boston-area crime scene. He knew Whitey Bulger, Richie Castucci and others. For years, the greater part of our time together was spent in prison visiting rooms. As a result, I was never afraid to go into a prison to visit Richard Sharpe. So, my book shines a light on Richard Sharpe, the individual, yes, but also on prisons and criminals generally. If you’re a reader who likes crime stories, you are sure to get your fill.

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My decision to remain friends with Richard Sharpe impacted my life in ways that were unimaginable to me at the time I made the decision. I learned a lot about myself and about human nature generally because of our association. I suffered a great deal of loss; and I gained a few things. I think any reader who has experienced shifts in their life as a result of their association with a difficult or strong-willed or mentally-ill person—whether it is a child or a spouse or a friend—will identify with my story.

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Q: ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý What makes a good memoir?

A: ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý A good memoir tells a story that captures the interest of others. When I made my decision to support Richard Sharpe after his incarceration, I had some clients and some friends who turned their backs on me and didn’t want to have anything to do with me. On the other hand, the ones that stuck by me could never get enough of the scoop.

Q: ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý I don’t have a regular writing schedule. Because I have my own business and work long hours, I don’t have the option of writing whenever I want. But I also don’t have the option of not writing; at some point I have too much going on in my head and I need to put it down on paper.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý This is my first book, and as of this writing, it is just out, so I can’t say for sure how it will be received by readers. As for personal rewards, not only did I accomplish what I set out to, but in the process of getting the story down on paper I got answers to questions that had plagued me for years.

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Born in Yugoslavia in the 1970s, Marija Bulatovic, along with her parents, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s just ahead of the 1990s Yugoslav wars and the breakup of the country.Ìý An accomplished business professional with years of experience driving enterprise business with Fortune 500 companies, Bulatovic graduated from Colgate University. Marija Bulatovic lives in Seattle with her husband and son.

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Q: What’s inside the mind of a memoir author?

A: A memoir author sets out to accomplish a combination of goals: to paint a picture of a time and place that have passed or have changed, to bring characters to life again, to tell a story that’s very personal and to bring all of this together in a meaningful but amusing way to her readers.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy FANTASTICAL: Tales of Bears, Beer and Haemophilia. Ìý

A: FANTASTICAL is a magical, whimsical memoir about living life in full color.Ìý It’s an engaging set of 13 stories that take readers on a wild journey through 1980’s Yugoslavia, a time and place that no longer exist but come alive in these stories.Ìý FANTASTICAL amuses and transports readers to a surreal dimension where “socialist meets gypsy Woody Allen,â€� where strange happening abound, and magic, mystery, dark humor and curiosity thrive.

Q: What makes a good memoir?

A: A good memoir is more than just recounting of historical records.Ìý It’s a work of passion, part tribute, part love letter to a time, place and people that the author holds dear.Ìý At the same time, it can’t be narcissistic.Ìý Its charm is to bring all of those elements together and engage, involve, amuse and transport the reader into another world.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: I didn’t set out to become an author and have spent 15 years in hi-tech.Ìý However, once I started writing FANTASTICAL the stories came very easily to me; I was delighted to wake up every day and write.Ìý My goal was to write a story a day for 25 days and this was easily achieved since I couldn’t wait share these stories with the broader audience.

Now that FANTASTICAL is out, I feel I have more books in me and have already written a children’s book and am starting to map out a few other book projects.Ìý While unexpected, I feel this could turn into a second and very rewarding career.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: I love the process of writing and bringing topics that I’m personally passionate about to the broader audience.Ìý I also love the execution process, from taking the raw material to shaping it through editing, illustrating, layout, etc. into stories my audience can enjoy and feel close to.

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