The Rules of Magic (the prequel to Practical Magic) is out October 15th! My interview with Alice Hoffman will be out in September.
How
cool is it when a famous author calls you from her house in Cambridge on a
Monday?! My interview with Alice Hoffman lasted 30 exquisite minutes and with
her permission, I have enough material for several pieces for several different
publications.
One of my favorite characters is Bridget Jones because she's beautifully ridiculous; she's witty, self-deprecating, painfully romantic, always wanting to prove her intelligence, has two answers or more for a single question, and she starts off in publishing, reading and promoting pieces of literature with honest regard and hopeful enthusiasm that one day she will be known for her talents as well.
Sometimes I fancy myself to be a little bit like her, and it's not with intention, but rather through default, inordinary events happening in my life; an experience can either take a flying leap off a cliff and careen into the vast and treacherous unknown or it can soar into the sky, higher than imagined. I have experienced both events many times, but this one is like the bird soaring thingy.
The following is regarding how this interview came to be. I would like to point out that I was writing the email to Hoffman's publicist, sitting outside the Captiva Library and facing the old cemetery while using my hot-spot. The service was shoddy at best and for some reason my email that was written on a Monday didn't get sent until Wednesday while I was having lunch with my friend Tajh, discussing the fabulous email I sent Simon and Schuster, YET I still hadn't heard back. I wanted to show Tajh the email, so I went to my sent box, and behold, it wasn't there. It was in my drafts, having never been sent! I am grateful to Tajh for this moment of realization. (Thank you, Tajh, for helping me see that hot-spots aren't always hot, specifically near cemeteries, and I needed to "resend" the email right away.)
So, what is it like to answer a call from this
incredibly famous author that was set up between you and Hoffman's publicist
just days ago? One word: Thrilling.
First, yes, I set up this interview as some
tiny little person in the world of literature, thinking that I have nerve to write
Simon and Schuster and ask if
Alice Hoffman would speak to me, tiny-little-person, me. Did I drop the small
magazine for which I was writing and a name of the director of the conference
that she is attending in the fall as the key-note speaker? Yes, I did;
however, I believe that most of my prowess has to do with the darn fine
email I wrote.
Anne....
Simon & Schuster
Dear Anne ...:
I'm reaching out
from Fort Myers Magazine, and on behalf of Tom DeMarchi, head of
the Sanibel Writers Conference with FGCU, who also gave me your contact, to
interview Alice Hoffman prior to her appearance as the key note speaker.
Personally, and especially this summer, I have become familiar with her work,
and as an English teacher and lover of well-crafted novels, her work is
inspiring on many levels, especially from her historical fiction to magical
realism. In fact, some of us on the island have formed a little Alice
Hoffman book club, consuming as many of her novels as we can each week. I am
finishing up The Museum of Extraordinary Things and have The
Dovekeepers on my Audible. Of course we are all looking forward to the
prequel of Practical Magic! The Owen’s family is most fascinating and I am
secretly glad I also have gray eyes [yes, I wrote this-- ugh, dork].
Anyway, I understand she
has limited time to interview as it is summer, and I have a deadline by August
15th for the September/October issue, which we would like to
have out before the conference in order to gain more interest for the event. My
best availability is anytime during the next few weeks and I can conduct the
interview by phone. My questions may be geared around particular themes in her
novels, magical realism, and Jewish mysticism; her ability to delve into
characters so well, her overall writer’s craft and what she might talk about at
the conference, as well as discussing The Rules of Magic [I asked much more and she revealed information
never talked about in other interviews!].
Again, my best times are
anytime for the next few weeks, especially the next two weeks while my son is
at sailing camp on Captiva Island and I’m spending my time writing at the
library here across from the oldest cemetery called Chapel by the Sea, where shells
wrapped in leather laces dangle from gumbo limbo trees like wind chimes for the
dead. She would like to see this place, I’m certain [and she does want to go
after I spoke with Hoffman directly about this place].
I would need to have the
interview completed before August 7th since my deadline is the
15th.
I would be happy to send
questions prior to the interview and we can limit the time to 20 minutes [we talked for 31 minutes holy cow!].
Thank you so much,
Enclosure: I have
attached a copy of my interview with Sue Monk Kidd to show my
And Alice Hoffman called
me the following week.
How
cool is it when a famous author calls you from her house in Cambridge on a
Monday?! My interview with Alice Hoffman lasted 30 exquisite minutes and with
her permission, I have enough material for several pieces for several different
publications.
Sometimes I fancy myself to be a little bit like her, and it's not with intention, but rather through default, inordinary events happening in my life; an experience can either take a flying leap off a cliff and careen into the vast and treacherous unknown or it can soar into the sky, higher than imagined. I have experienced both events many times, but this one is like the bird soaring thingy.
The following is regarding how this interview came to be. I would like to point out that I was writing the email to Hoffman's publicist, sitting outside the Captiva Library and facing the old cemetery while using my hot-spot. The service was shoddy at best and for some reason my email that was written on a Monday didn't get sent until Wednesday while I was having lunch with my friend Tajh, discussing the fabulous email I sent Simon and Schuster, YET I still hadn't heard back. I wanted to show Tajh the email, so I went to my sent box, and behold, it wasn't there. It was in my drafts, having never been sent! I am grateful to Tajh for this moment of realization. (Thank you, Tajh, for helping me see that hot-spots aren't always hot, specifically near cemeteries, and I needed to "resend" the email right away.)
So, what is it like to answer a call from this incredibly famous author that was set up between you and Hoffman's publicist just days ago? One word: Thrilling.
First, yes, I set up this interview as some tiny little person in the world of literature, thinking that I have nerve to write Simon and Schuster and ask if Alice Hoffman would speak to me, tiny-little-person, me. Did I drop the small magazine for which I was writing and a name of the director of the conference that she is attending in the fall as the key-note speaker? Yes, I did; however, I believe that most of my prowess has to do with the darn fine email I wrote.
Anne....
Simon & Schuster
Dear Anne ...:
I'm reaching out
from Fort Myers Magazine, and on behalf of Tom DeMarchi, head of
the Sanibel Writers Conference with FGCU, who also gave me your contact, to
interview Alice Hoffman prior to her appearance as the key note speaker.
Personally, and especially this summer, I have become familiar with her work,
and as an English teacher and lover of well-crafted novels, her work is
inspiring on many levels, especially from her historical fiction to magical
realism. In fact, some of us on the island have formed a little Alice
Hoffman book club, consuming as many of her novels as we can each week. I am
finishing up The Museum of Extraordinary Things and have The
Dovekeepers on my Audible. Of course we are all looking forward to the
prequel of Practical Magic! The Owen’s family is most fascinating and I am
secretly glad I also have gray eyes [yes, I wrote this-- ugh, dork].
Anyway, I understand she
has limited time to interview as it is summer, and I have a deadline by August
15th for the September/October issue, which we would like to
have out before the conference in order to gain more interest for the event. My
best availability is anytime during the next few weeks and I can conduct the
interview by phone. My questions may be geared around particular themes in her
novels, magical realism, and Jewish mysticism; her ability to delve into
characters so well, her overall writer’s craft and what she might talk about at
the conference, as well as discussing The Rules of Magic [I asked much more and she revealed information
never talked about in other interviews!].
Again, my best times are
anytime for the next few weeks, especially the next two weeks while my son is
at sailing camp on Captiva Island and I’m spending my time writing at the
library here across from the oldest cemetery called Chapel by the Sea, where shells
wrapped in leather laces dangle from gumbo limbo trees like wind chimes for the
dead. She would like to see this place, I’m certain [and she does want to go
after I spoke with Hoffman directly about this place].
I would need to have the
interview completed before August 7th since my deadline is the
15th.
I would be happy to send
questions prior to the interview and we can limit the time to 20 minutes [we talked for 31 minutes holy cow!].
Thank you so much,
Paula Michele Bolado
Enclosure: I have
attached a copy of my interview with Sue Monk Kidd to show my
experience.
---
And Alice Hoffman called
me the following week.
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