We would like to introduce you to another talented author: Julie Nisargand. Thanks Julie for taking the time out of your schedule to share with our members.
Julie Nisargand
At the end of the day we’ll have a random drawing including all of those who comment on the post. 2 Winners will receive a signed copy of Julie’s Book! Can’t think of anything to comment about? Tell us if you’ve ever had an experience similar to Christine Louis’ in “An Exaltation of Larks” where she loses her purse in Paris and has to survive or let us know if you’ve ever felt like a Wednesday Girl!
drumroll…….And the winners of the signed books are:
Cathy W. (Firefly) & Rodney R.
Thank you all for participating!
Julie’s Bio: Julie Nisargand is a native of Seattle Washington and a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema & Television. After writing screenplays for a while, she changes her focus to her first novel, The Wednesday Girl. “One moment I was accepting accolades for my film at the Directors’ Guild, the next, I was peeling duct tape off the floor on the set of a Roger Corman movie. Working sixteen hours a day for $200 a week left me feeling” …Read more of what Julie has to say about writing “The Wednesday Girl” here. Her second novel, An Exaltation of Larks was published by Anima Books in 2004. An Exaltation of Larks is about a young lady who finds herself in Paris penniless and unable to speak French, struggling to survive.
How did you come up with the title “The Wednesday Girl“?
The title for “The Wednesday Girl” just happened to come out of the main character’s mouth when she was mad at the older guy she’s dating. He’s an artistic type who she admires for his mind and his worldliness, but he isn’t much of a scheduler. When a co-worker asks if she’s seeing her boyfriend on the weekend, she makes the mistake of saying that she’s never seen him on a weekend. He just comes over when it’s convenient. The way the co-worker looks at her makes her realize what a horrible mistake she’s made, allowing herself, because of low self-esteem at that point in her life, to be somebody’s “Wednesday Girl” instead of the main attraction on Saturday night!
What inspired you to write your second book, “An Exaltation of Larks“?
My second book was kind of like an “accidental pregnancy”. I took three weeks off from waiting tables in L.A. –what I was doing to make ends meet while trying to write after college—to go to Europe, Paris in particular. I didn’t even bring paper. I was working so hard on my writing that the only promise I made to myself was that I would go to Paris for three weeks and not write a thing. Just enjoy myself. Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of Paris that I didn’t notice when someone stole my entire purse from my duffel bag before I even got to the hotel. Being alone in Paris, unable to speak the language and without a passport, credit card, traveler’s cheques, or single solitary piece of cash was so scary that as soon as I got my situation straightened out, I sat down in a café and was overcome with the desire to write. I couldn’t stop the story from spilling out so I used all the napkins on the table to start, then asked the waiter for more. That was the beginning of the second book.
What advice would you give upcoming authors?
My advice to writers who are just starting out—they can be any age because there is no particular age a writer has to be—is to write for free. In the film industry, they call it “writing on spec”, meaning the work hasn’t been commissioned. When you write for the pure fun of it (and pure risk), your own voice has a better chance of developing. It’s like painting anything you want versus doing a paint by numbers. Secondly, what you as an individual have to say is earthshatteringly important. No one else lives behind your eyes. If you don’t describe the view, no one will ever see it but you. Don’t be selfish! Share your life! Lastly, write often but don’t force discipline on yourself. Your writer is your best friend and probably doesn’t appreciate you being a demanding taskmaster. The writer part of you is a kid who likes to play and LOVES to talk, only the writer does his or her talking through, you guessed it, writing.
