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.
Tags: Authors
During college I studied in Madrid (this was in about 2000). My boyfriend and I took a trip to Toledo and were splitting the cost. I had paid for the train tickets and meals and he was to pay for the hostel. Well, that night after coming back from dinner, he went to an ATM to get out money to pay for the room, and his card got sucked up by the ATM! We had a few pesetas left, and luckily we already had our train tickets home because we had bought round-trip tickets, but we didn’t have enough to pay for the room, nor to buy anything else to eat or drink. The next day was Sunday when of course the bank was closed, so we would be without money until Monday, even if we could have stayed in Toledo! It was a very scary experience and I seriously thought about trying to sing in the square to make money! Luckily the owner of the hostel took pity on us and let us stay even though we didn’t have nearly enough money. We later sent him the rest of the money. I will always remember how grateful I felt and how nice he was to us — otherwise we’d be out on the street in Toledo (at least it wasn’t a very dangerous place, but very foreign to us).
So that is my story of being without anything in a different country. This book sounds interesting and I look forward to reading it and reviewing it on my blog.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts (and thought process) about “An Exaltation of Larks”. I look forward to reading to soon.
Interesting interview. Good luck. Look forward to reading your books.
My Wife looks forward to reading your book’s,you will write more.
Thanks for sharing info on this author. I am always looking for new authors to check out. The second book definitely sounds like something I would like to read. :0)
Thanks for sharing your tips for aspiring writers! It makes writing sound so easy 🙂
It should inspire all the writers on this PBS website to keep writing.
Both books sound great! Loved the writing on napkins in a restaurant!!! And I love to read about writers and how they get ideas and how they write and where!!!
Good luck!!!
Great interview and the books sound interesting. I look forward to reading them.
Can’t wait to read both of these books. I too have jotted down notes on a napkin. I find that it is best to immediately take the time to write down the details of the experience or else they slowly disappear forever.
Thanks for the interview, I am always on the look out for a good read and both of these seem to be something I would like to read.
Thank you for taking time in your life to give the gift of books to others. With out writers where would we be.
My friends and I traveled to Prague and at one point thought one of us had lost her wallet. We found it but in the meantime we panicked. Losing your purse in your hometown (or even your home on one of those days) is very emotional. When you’ve lost something so personal and important in a foreign country where do you even begin? What an excellent premise for the story! I look forward to reading it and getting acquainted with Julie. Thanks!
As a struggling writer, I’ve found that all life is either an accident waiting to happen or a story waiting to be written.
I do disagree with the author’s advice that beginning writers should write for free. Why give away your creativity when you can be paid for it? My advice would be try to sell th4 piece first, then if you truly need to see your name in a byline, give it away.
It is true that writing for free will garner clips for your resume, but paid clips carry more weight.
Otherwise, i’m looking forward to reading Nisargand’s books.
These sound like books I’d enjoy….. I’ll keep an eye open for them!
I look forward to reading your books. Thank you for sharing!
I’m intrigued and look forward to reading The Wednesday Girl — sounds like I might identify a bit with the character and find a bit of some of my favorite strong, beautiful, female friends mixed in…thank you.
loved the advice she gave new writers. Can not wait to read her books.
These look like two books i would really enjoy reading. thank you for telling me about this new author.
can,t wait to read her books
haha, not to long ago, my husband and I were in Chicago and they have cabs everywhere. Well I was there for work and he came along for the fun of it, so I wouldn’t be alone. Anyways, he catches a cab and heads over to where I was working to pick me up. I come out of class and walk towards him, he’s sitting on the steps. He looks up at me and says “I’ve screwed up”. I ask what happened…he left his wallet in the back seat of a cab…IN CHICAGO. Holy smokes, how are we going to find it? We wonder what will happen if we don’t find it. How will he be able to get on the plane and go back home? Well we go back to the hotel we were staying at and start making some telephone calls (he doesn’t know what cab company it was, since there are cabs everywhere). A good samartian found the wallet and starts calling numbers that he had in it. She happened to reach my Brother-in-law. He calls my husband and says that someone found his wallet. My husband gets her name and number and calls her. We go to her hotel and wait for her to show up. When she does we try to give her a twenty and she won’t take it. She says that she’s had her wallet stolen before and knows what that feeling is like. All she asked is for us to pay it foward. Sheesh, talk about a blessing.
that is a really beautiful story. just shows their is still good caring people in the world.
I really enjoyed this interview and look forward to reading these books. Sounds like great advice for new writers. Thank you!
You answered that annoyingly generic question of “what advise would you give to aspiring writers?” in a way that did NOT waste words! the money advise (and your screenwriting example) is a good, and fresh, idea. and you are sooooo right about not bullying your inner writer to write when it just doesn’t feel like it. but still, i wish we had more control over our creative sparks or whatever you want to call them…
I absolutely love the title An Exaltation of Larks! And your advice to writers is fabulous. I have tried the route where I write every day and it just didn’t work. I hate reading about famous writers who write like 8 hours a day every day. So I think your accidental spurt of writing on vacation worked great and it’s inspiring that there’s so many DIFFERENT ways to do your craft as a writer. Way to go!
I love the story about how you wrote An Exaltation of Larks. Makes me wish I could write.
Wednesday or Tuesday or Paris who really cares? If I am in the present moment I am perfect.
I’m very interested in reading “The Wednesday Girl”. A time or two I know I sure felt like I was her!
Great interview. I appreciate the advice for new writers.
I have not heard of her but now that I read the interview, I am very intrigued to read her books. Sigh, I love it when I find new authors to read. I will have to get her books and start immediately. Unless I win one! Thanks for the great article!
I love the sound of both books. I have a daughter and daughter in law in their early twenties and “The Wednesday Girl” sounds like a must read for both of them.
Both books sound great. Fortunately, I’ve never lost my wallet on a trip to a foreign city like the author and character in her book, but I did lose my wallet once while out Christmas shopping. I had no idea where I had lost it, until I got a phone call from the people who had found it. They had been out buying a Christmas tree. When they got their tree home and put it up in their house, my wallet fell out from the branches of the tree. It’s nice to know there are so many caring and honest people in the world that would return a wallet full of cash like that.
I saw someone reading this book on the train just the other day, and she told me she couldn’t put it down. It is great to hear the author’s insight on these books. Can’t wait to read them!
I love reading interviews with authors. It brings such a connection with the author when you go to read their books.
Your books sound like something I will like. I look forward to reading them.
both books sound very interesting. I can kind of relate to being a Wednsday Girl. My boyfriend does not like to plan things either, unless it is some event that he knows he wants to attend. It makes it really difficult to plan my schedule around his when he does not plan anything.
I love reading interviews with new and upcoming authors. I look forward to reading both books.
Interesting…I’ll have to look into this author further!
Excellent interview. Though I’ve a towering to-be-read pile of books Julie’s ‘voice’ in her interview has made me quickly go and put these on my wish list. Her writing has a wonderful flow that pulls you in right away. “The Wednesday Girl” discription really hit home. Looking forward to reading both books.
Both books sound very interesting. I often dream (nightmare) of losing my purse and what a challenge that would be for me. So far I have only left it at church or a friend’s so have been able to recover it quickly and completely. Best of wishes to the author and her success.
I almost had the same thing happen when we first arrived in London. We were getting off the underground and had so much luggage and I left my purse behind. unbelievably there was a young man who risked having his arm hurt as he hurled my purse off after me as the doors were closing on his arm. I was aghast and so thankful all at the same time. I had my two daughter’s passports as well as mine and my husband’s. They couldn’t believe my carelessness and good fortune all at once. Needless to say they wanted their passports back and I kept my purse glued to me for the rest of the trip.
It was my first time in Europe and we had a wonderful time. We were there for our oldest daughter’s graduation from the University of London Medical School. It all worked out, it was a wonderful trip filled with a mother’s pride of her daughter’s accomplishment.
Good karma was working for me when that blunder happened. There are honest people everywhere.
Sounds like a really interesting book, I look forward to reading it in the near future!
And the Winners of the 2 signed books are: Cathy W. (Firefly) & Rodney R.
Thank you all for participating!
We’ll continue interviewing authors the last 3 mondays every month. If you know an author that would like to participate please have them contact us via feedback. If we start getting swamped w/ authors we’ll pick up the pace.
Thanks again!
Wow – thank you!! I look forward to reading your work, Julie!! And I look forward to being introduced to more authors here! Thank you, PBS!
You books sound very interesting*Will be on the lookout for them*
I am highly interested in reading more
First of all…..Bravo 2 you!! A real published successful author. And on top of that, you are extremely nice! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to talk and want to get some of my books published, so thanks for the advice. I’ll have to read your books 🙂
GREAT INTERVIEW…!!!
I received my copy of The Wednesday Girl yesterday! Thank you so much! I think I’ll put it at the top of my TBR and start it when I finish my current book. 😀
Thank you for your powerful insight to writing. Indeed, it is due to the giving heart, Love/passion and play of writers that great works of literature have enriched our imaginations.
Looking forward to reading your books and please continue to PLAY.
I’m extremely inspired together with your writing abilities annd also with the structure in your blog.
Is thks a paid subject or did you moify it yourself?
Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s uncommon to see a
greeat bloog like this one nowadays..
Heere is my blog: shilajit