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 Up Close and
Personal . . .
Q:
How long have you been writing?
A:
I've been writing
since I was old enough to put pen to paper. My first
full-length work, written at the age of nine, was a play entitled
The Passion of Love. Would you say I have a tendency
toward the dramatic?
Q:
What's your astrological sign?
A:
I'm a Capricorn, so yes, I'm
hard-headed. I was also born in the Chinese Year of the Dog, which
should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I do a fair
amount of nonfiction dog writing under the name Cynthia P.
Gallagher.
Q: When did you begin writing
professionally?
A:
I
owe my writing career to two people: good friend Cheryl Cohn
and author/instructor Jim Gray. I had always written and was
told I "had a flair for it." But at 17, my first submitted
magazine piece was rejected, and I naively viewed this author's-rite-of-passage as a "you don't have
what it takes, kid" stop sign. Fast forward 20 years,
when Cheryl asked me to help compose a
business letter. She remarked, "Wow, you really missed your
calling!" At that moment, I knew I didn't want to look back
someday and wonder "what if..."
I enrolled in an adult-education writing course taught by Memphis
author Jim Gray. I began a short story that Jim felt should be
written as a novel.
" I could never write a novel," I protested. If only Jim knew the
powerful impact of his reply! Just four little words -- "of course
you can" -- changed my life.
The short story I was writing? Far Above Rubies.
Q:
Why are
your stories important?
A:
I strive not only to entertain
and engage the reader, but to subtly educate. If you can come
away from a novel knowing more than you did before about something -- anything -- the author has done her job well.
Q:
Why do you write in
such a wide variety of genres?
A:
There are so many
things I am curious about, always have been. Why do we cry
from emotion? Why do our noses run when we're outdoors in cold
weather? Do cows relaxing on the Alpine grasslands ever get
bored? There's usually a dearth of information on these
esoteric topics, since I and possibly four others on the planet
wonder about them. Sometimes you just have to write the book
yourself (that's a not-so-subtle segue to my next book, WHIFF:
Human Aroma Through the Ages).
Q:
What is your educational
background?
A:
I have a B.A. in Russian (Nyet,
I am not fluent) from The
George Washington University. I've also logged two summers of
non-degree, total-immersion Spanish language study at Middlebury
College's Summer Language Schools (Si, estoy bastante fluida). In addition, I am an
FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher.
Q:
What professional organizations
are you affiliated with?
A: I'm
a member of the Dog Writers Association of America (yes, there
really is such an organization),
the Women's National Book Association, and
am a member and prior board member of the
Maryland Writer's
Association.
Q:
What is a typical writing day
like?
A:
After years of trial and error,
I've found that I work best when away from my home office. I
have regular dates with a writing partner where we get together for
breakfast or lunch, then spend several hours at the library or coffee
shop working on our respective projects. Promotional work is
done at home because I'm constantly on the phone and Internet.
Q:
What do you like to do when you're not
working?
A:
Not
working? When is that?
When I can tear myself away from the
computer, I spend time with my boxer, Paige. During the
academic year, I tutor at the U.S. Naval Academy's Writing Center,
fighting the war on incorrect grammar one midshipman at a time.
I also enjoy knitting, hiking, and crossword puzzles, the harder,
the better! My real guilty pleasure is Tetris, but I deleted
it from my hard drive. It was either that, or find a Tetris
Anonymous group.
Q:
Authors can be eccentric
people. Do you have any eccentricities?
A:
I collect English-language homophones (words that sound the same but
are spelled differently and have different meanings). Thus
far, I have almost 400. Why? There doesn't have to be a
reason; that's what makes it eccentric!
If you want to talk eccentric, you should only know what my next
book project is (another one of those not-so-subtle references).
Q:
If you were given $500 to spend in
your favorite store, where would it be?
A:
Target, no question.
But Sam's Club runs a close second (sorry, Wal-Mart).
Q:
What is your favorite
dessert?
A:
Cheesecake.
My favorite recipe calls for 2 pounds of cream cheese and a crust of
ground blanched almonds. It's really a health food: almonds
are good for memory and brain function; dairy provides calcium for
bone strength. Calcium absorption is said to be enhanced with
the addition of Vitamin D, so you get extra health benefits if you
eat your cheesecake on a sunny terrace. ;)
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