Interview with memoirist Nancy L. Pressly

My special guest today is Nancy L. Pressly. She’s sharing a bit about her memoir, Unlocking: A Memoir of Family and Art.

Bio:

I grew up in small rural town north of New York City. After graduating from Goucher College, I lived in New York City where I received a master’s degree in Art History from Columbia University, worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and met my husband, also an art historian. I subsequently held curatorial positions at the Yale Center for British Art and the San Antonio Museum of Art, where I organized several important exhibitions, most notably the acclaimed Fuseli Circle in Rome: Early Romantic Art of the 1770s at Yale. I served for eight years as Assistant Director of the Museum Program at the National Endowment for the Arts during the Mapplethorpe controversary and the Culture Wars. After a semester as a visiting Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, I founded Nancy L. Pressly & Associates, a nationally recognized consulting firm specializing in strategic planning for some of the nation’s leading art museums. In the past five years, I have authored two books, Settling the South Carolina Backcountry (2016) and in Unlocking A Memoir of Family and Art to be published May 5, 2020. My husband and I live in Atlanta, Georgia, close to our son and two grandchildren. I love to travel, garden, and cook, and recently I took up pottery.

Welcome, Nancy. Please tell us about your current release.

Unlocking is not your typical memoir in that it looks at my life’s journey so far. It interweaves personal and professional stories, beginning with my childhood in a small rural town north of New York City as I slowly unravel family dynamics that had so long been obliterated from my memory. The memoir captures my life in the New York art world of the late 1960’s when I came into my own as a person and met my husband, a fellow graduate student, and we began our journey together as art historians. Throughout I discuss the importance of art and travel and how I look at and respond to art. Major themes include how I assumed the role of caretaker for my family, beginning with her husband’s near fatal illness early in our marriage; the challenges of being a working mother when the concept was still new; and how I finally overcame doubts about my professional worth and ambivalence about my more assertive side of my being that I kept partially repressed, allowing me to embrace a national leadership role in the museum world. It is also a story of resilience, determination, and optimism. Interwoven throughout is the importance of family bonds. The memoir is an intensely personal and honest account, notable for its candor, and I hope it leaves the reader with a deep appreciation for the power of empathy and the transformative power of art.

What inspired you to write this book?

While I was recovering from a near fatal illness, I discovered a treasure trove of family material in my attic, including citizenship papers, boxes of letters and old photographs, including one of my father’s brother, Max, who died at the age of eighteen, which I had never seen. As I looked at these photographs, some over a century old, I was astonished at the power of the image to unlock memories, to tell stories. I found myself overcome with emotion and suddenly felt a profound responsibility to try to create a narrative of my grandparents’ and parents’ lives before their stories were lost forever. For the next year I applied my skills as a researcher uncovering, in archives and historical documents, a significant amount of new information. I pieced together the facts and prepared a chronological outline with key events but did not venture further and try to write their story.

One day some eight years later, as I watched my grandchildren play in our backyard, I was filled with love and tenderness and gratitude for this gift. I was acutely aware of what a critically important role I was playing in their lives, as I helped my son, who was essentially a single parent, care for them. I thought about how random events or even comments can resonate deeply with a child, becoming an important part of what he or she takes forward into their adult life. I thought of how important my grandparents had been to me as a child and my mind wandered back to the photographs, I discovered eight years earlier. I realized there was unfinished business. I knew, in order to write my family’s story, I would have to summon the courage to dig deep into my own past, which had been locked away for so long behind a heavy veil of amnesia. It slowly dawned on me that I should write a memoir and incorporate my parents’ history into my story. This was my circuitous route to becoming a memoir writer, and it took me totally by surprise.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Being retired is an interesting state, so much more exciting than I ever envisioned. For me it has released a burst of creativity not only in writing but also in other things. A year ago, I took up pottery and throwing on the wheel and I absolutely love doing this. It is challenging but very satisfying when a beautiful pot emerges. So, for the moment my writing will be confined mainly to my Reflections page on my website, where I will write short essays on themes in the book including looking at art, travel, finding myself as a woman. Right now, I am writing a short essay on balancing our many roles as women whatever our age.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

For me that’s a hard question because I have always written for my work whether it was as a curator and scholar or a strategic planner for art museums. My publications have been well received as much for their scholarly contribution as for their style. I have become a much better writer over the years and have been told I write with clarity and passion. My most recent book, prior to Unlocking, was Settling the South Carolina Book Country which focused on my husband ‘s family and the Scot-Irish settling Abbeville and Greenwood county between 1768 and 1850.

Photo credit:
Atlanta Portait Photography

Do you write full-time?

I’m retired. During the period I was writing my memoir I worked on it every day. It was very important to me and occupied my consciousness even when I wasn’t writing. But the reality was, despite the fact I am retired, I had other responsibilities. Family is a central theme in my book, and our lives have been complicated so there were constant interruptions. Our son is mainly a single parent; I help with the children sometimes daily and this involves phone calls that could interrupt the rhythm of writing and times when the thoughts came fast and furious and I would have to stop to pick up the kids from school. Additionally, my husband has serious health issues, and this could interrupt writing for a month at a time and certainly occupied my thoughts and emotions. I am extremely disciplined and energetic, so I found ways to continue to write but it certainly complicated thought processes on more than one occasion. I was absolutely committed to this book and thrilled that I found the courage and inspiration to undertake a memoir.

If so, what's your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I try to find a balance and keep my mind fresh. Exercise – I like to walk and do Pilates – was essential. I also enjoy gardening and cooking; both are important parts of my life.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I am very messy; there are papers everywhere in my small home office. I am also intuitive and empathetic and honest as a person and these attributes became my voice. I don’t know if that is quirky but for some it might be.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

In seventh grade I had a crush on my science teacher and wanted to become a geologist. I was always interested in science and psychology, but in college I discovered art history and there was no turning back after that.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Writing a memoir was a complicated and moving experience and I found inspiration with the process, letting my own story slowly unfold. There was no outline; it evolved organically; major themes changed midway. It was so interesting to look at old photographs and try to decipher my parents and grandparents lives; to try to see and intuit meaning beneath the surface of the images as I so often had done as an art historian with works of art. Retrieval of memories was a slow journey. I had no idea where it would end up, but I trusted the journey and learned remarkable new things. No longer the analytic strategic planner or scholar prone to footnotes, I found inspiration in a new way of writing. It was liberating.

Links:

Website | Facebook

Thank you for being here today, Nancy!

Interview with novelist Izai Amorim

Author Izai Amorim is here today and we’re chatting about his new literary fiction (with humor), On the Run.

Bio:

“Make me think, make me laugh, make my day!”
That’s why Izai Amorim reads and writes books. He has great interest in the interplay of media, information, and politics in a globalized world and the quest for identity and borders in a worldwide cultural melting pot. Izai was born and raised in Brazil but spent most of his adult life abroad, briefly in the USA, mostly in Germany.

He was trained as an architect and worked many years in this profession. But his real passion is storytelling. At some point in his life he decided to mix storytelling with architecture, changed professions, and became a branding consultant, something that he loves and has been doing to these days with his branding company BRANDLEAGUE. He also runs a social business, CERTIFIED COOLNESS, where he uses his branding and storytelling skills to advance the cause of sustainable behavior and environmental protection.

Izai also does sculpture and photography. He has already published two photography books: The Lace Curtains of Berlin (2013) and Sky Over Liberty Farm (2014).

His first novel, The Games (2013), is a humorous but dark, even mean, political thriller. This mother of all conspiracies shows how information is processed to create and spread the stories needed to establish power structures not accountable to anyone.

Welcome, Izai. Please tell us about your current release.

On the Run is my second novel and is about identity. It's the story of Pablo, a young, rich, and well-educated Central American man on the run from the police and Colombian drug dealers. He is accused of crimes he didn’t commit. Ready to do what it takes to survive, Pablo ironically embraces the very drug trade that threatened his life in the first place. Who is he? What is he really capable of? More than a contemporary story of survival, it’s a journey of self-discovery.

The story is set in New York City in the early nineties and is told in the first person by Pablo. His voice is funny, sometimes mean and merciless. He moves with nightmarish ease from recounting his adventures to recollecting his early life. Not always politically correct, On The Run gives you an insightful, twisted, humorous, and often disturbing view of conflicting worlds and beliefs: North and Latin America; black, brown, and white; rich and poor; rational and esoteric – and shows how they mix, match, and clash.

What inspired you to write this book?

As a person who has lived in a lot of different places and cultures, I’m very interested in the issues of identity and borders, especially our own limits, taboos, and red lines. How do we feel when we are forced to cross one of those red lines? And after we’ve crossed it, how far will we go? How does our moving between cultures change our sense of right and wrong? If we were given the chance to start over, to build up your identity from scratch, who would we choose to be? Which values would we have? How would we behave? I find these questions fascinating and I tried to answer them.

Excerpt from On the Run:

Some people say that when you’re about to die, you see your whole life flashing before your eyes, like you’re watching a movie. Others say that you see angels. Some talk about out-of-body experiences. These different theories have one common characteristic: it’s supposed to be a cosmic experience.

It’s all bullshit. I didn’t see any movie. I didn’t see any angels. No out-of-body experience. As the bullets were flying around me, all I could see and hear was Mom screaming at me, “Shame on you, Pablo! To die wearing dirty underwear! How could you do this to me?” There was definitely nothing cosmic about that.

I had picked a seat opposite the entrance, with my back to the glass wall. That way I could observe the whole restaurant. I had been doing that since my nightmare started two days before. Never sitting with my back to the door. Always keeping an eye on everything happening around me. Looking out for cops or killers.

The moment I saw the guy coming through the door, I knew that he was trouble. Big trouble. His eyes looked weird. As he walked in, I scanned him from head to feet. I saw the bulge under his sweatshirt, and I instantly knew that it was a gun. In my head all bells started ringing. The Colombians found you, boy. You’re dead. You can run but you can’t hide. But then I noticed something strange: he was a redneck. Blond and blue eyed. Not the Latino killer I was expecting. Could he be an undercover cop? No, he didn’t look like a cop. Unless he was a cop on drugs.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m still working on On the Run! The project is not over when you finish writing. I have spent the last months getting the book reviewed. I’m very happy that it has received such a good response. Now that it is finally published, I have to promote it. The Frankfurt Book Fair is coming up soon. I guess I’ll be busy with On the Run until the end of the year.

But I have been thinking a lot about my next project. My first book, The Games, is set in Europe. On the Run, in America. Maybe time has come to write a book set in Brazil. I’m considering writing a family saga. Right now I’m doing some research and thinking about plot and characters. But I’m at a very early stage.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When I did the first version of On the Run many years ago. It was a very short novel, about forty thousand words. I started it just for fun and it turned out really well, though everything was still very sketchy: characters, plot, etc. Last year I decided to develop the story into a full-length novel. But considering oneself a writer and feeling like one are two different things. I really felt like a writer when I got a hard copy of my first novel in my hands.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

Due to my work in branding and environment, I can’t write full time. But in my free time I work on the story all the time, inside my head: under the shower, jogging, riding the subway, etc. I only write things down when I know exactly what I want to say, so I don’t have writer’s block. Of course the story has a life of its own and sometimes I end up writing down something completely different from what I had initially planned. I find these surprises very gratifying! Then I spend my free time thinking about how this sudden development affects the story and what should follow up. And so it goes...

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Because, as I said before, I first develop the story inside my head, I tend to get lost in my thoughts a lot and forget the world. This can be very annoying to people around me. I hear very often, “Are you still there?”

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Lots of different things, all related to building stuff: architect (buildings), civil engineer, (bridges) mechanical engineer (cars and machines), aircraft engineer (airplanes), marine engineer (ships)... I ended up choosing civil engineering and architecture.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Many thanks to you, Lisa, for inviting me here – and to everyone reading this interview. Gaining exposure as an indie author relies mostly on word-of-mouth. Please spread the word!

Links:

Book site | Author site | NetGalley | Goodreads | Amazon | Kindle

Thanks for being here today, Izai!

Interview with contemporary debut novelist Lynn Steward

I'd like to introduce you to debut novelist Lynn Steward today. She's talking about the first in a new series set in 1970's New York City, A Very Good Life.

Bio:

Lynn Steward is a successful business woman who spent many years in New York City's fashion industry in marketing and merchandising, including the development of the first women's department at a famous men's clothing store. 

Through extensive research, and an intimate knowledge of the period, Steward created the characters and stories for a series of five authentic and heartwarming novels about New York in the seventies. A Very Good Life is the first in the series featuring Dana McGarry.

Welcome, Lynn. Please tell us about your current release

A Very Good Life is set against an historic backdrop of New York City in 1974, but the themes are timeless and universal. Like many young, married career women, twenty nine year old Dana McGarry’s life is on autopilot, and signs of trouble both at home and the office are masked due to an over-scheduled calendar and exhaustion. But on the eve of International Women’s Year, when women hungered to have it all, Dana is determined to stop going through the motions, and find time for self-fulfillment and a balanced life.  

A Very Good Life chronicles Dana’s quest, while providing a behind-the-scenes look at the worlds of art, fashion, and business, alongside some of the most legendary women of the twentieth century. There is a meeting with business icon, Estée Lauder, a guest appearance at Café des Artistes by legendary Vogue editor and special consultant to the costume institute at the Metropolitan Museum, Diana Vreeland, and an art lecture at the Met by Rosamond Bernier, close friend of some of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. This is story of extraordinary women that will inspire women of all ages

What inspired you to write this book?

About three years ago, I started researching and developing characters for a TV series, and before I knew it, I had outlines for five seasons. After I developed the pilot and wrote synopses for the season, I realized that the main character, Dana, needed more drama and the plots had to be developed, and I felt the best way to do that was to write a novel. The story, however, came from my knowledge of the period, experience in the fashion industry, fond memories of New York places and events, and historic research that helped weave the plots and characters.

Excerpt from A Very Good Life:

Dana McGarry, her short blond hair stirred by a light gust of wind, stood on Fifth Avenue in front of the display windows of the B. Altman department store on the day after Thanksgiving, November, 1974.  Dana, public relations and special events coordinator for the store, pulled her Brooks Brothers camel hair polo coat tighter around her slim, shapely frame.  Shoppers hurried past her, huddled in overcoats as mild snow flurries coated the streets with a fine white powder.  It was now officially Christmas season, and Dana sensed a pleasant urgency in the air as people rushed to find the perfect gift or simply meet a friend for lunch.  The frenetic pace of life in Manhattan continued to swell the sidewalks, but pedestrians were more inclined to tender a smile instead of a grimace if they bumped into one another.  Dana often told her friends that Christmas was a time when there was a temporary truce between true believers and grinches.  As far as business was concerned, she was pleased to hear the cash registers of B. Altman singing their secular carols inside the store, but she also still believed that the holidays brought magic and balance, however briefly, into a world of routine and ten-hour workdays.  

Balance?  Dana smiled wistfully, for balance was becoming harder to achieve.  She was only twenty-nine, but the pressures of life were already assaulting her mind and spirit in numerous ways.  She tried to please multiple people in B. Altman’s corporate offices on a daily basis, not an easy task given that the seasoned professionals who were grooming her had various agendas, not all of which tallied with each other.  And then there was her marriage to Brett McGarry, a litigator at a Wall Street law firm.  Brett was as busy as she, and simultaneously attending to her career and the needs of her husband was sometimes difficult, if not downright burdensome.  His needs?  Well, “demands” would be a more accurate description of what Dana had to contend with.  Although Brett didn’t overtly order Dana around, he informed her of what he would or would not be able to do with her on any given day.  His growing air of superiority was extremely subtle and couched in affable smiles that most of Dana’s friends could not accurately read.

Brett McGarry walked confidently into the offices of Davis, Konen and Wright on the thirty-seventh floor of 80 Broad Street.  The address was in the heart of New York’s financial district, a suitable home for the powerhouse corporate law firm where Brett hoped to soon make partner.  The imposing limestone edifice of the Art Deco building, with its many tiers of set-back facades, was near Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry, the New York Stock Exchange, and other famous landmarks in lower Manhattan.  Brett felt at ease in the financial district, and whenever he entered the area, he felt a spring in his step.  This was where he belonged, and when it was time to have a drink with colleagues, he could walk to Fraunces Tavern, the Georgian-style building on nearby Pearl Street where General George Washington had bid the officers of the Continental Army a fond farewell at a dinner in his honor.  On any given evening, one could find newsworthy faces at the tavern, and for Brett, scotch neat went down that much easier when at Fraunces.

He turned the corner of one of the quiet corridors of the firm, hitting his stride.  He had every reason to believe he was on the fast track to partnership, so the light snow and gray skies outside hadn’t dampened his spirit.  On the contrary, he felt invigorated by the cold air, with gray skies matching the venerable gray buildings on Wall Street. 

 “Good morning, Brett,” came a female voice from behind a secretary’s desk in the center of an office suite occupied by the firm’s litigators.

Startled, Brett jerked his head forward.  He had expected to find only the cleaning staff shuffling through the hallowed offices on this Friday morning.  The voice belonged to Janice Conlon, the firm’s new junior litigator.  Brett stopped in his tracks and surveyed the five-foot-ten leggy blond dressed in tight jeans and an even tighter turtleneck covered by a brown distressed suede jacket.  Long straight hair splashed across her shoulders, and her deep blue eyes gazed at Brett above high angular cheekbones.

What exciting story are you working on next?

A Very Good Life is the first novel in a five book series featuring Dana McGarry, and I will soon be starting Book Two. The synopsis is written, actually all four remaining stories in the series are developed, and I am researching historic events for the period.

Book Two begins with Dana in London on holiday. While shopping at Jaeger’s on Bond Street, she is inspired to create a similar women’s classic clothing boutique at B. Altman, but, once again, Helen, her boss, is an impediment. Back in New York, she finds a new love interest, Mark, who introduces her to Irwin Berger, a menswear manufacturer. After Dana learns that Brooks Brothers is opening a ladies department with fashions made in the cutting rooms of menswear manufacturers, she convinces Irwin to work with her to design a private label collection of tailored clothing, using menswear fabrics, to present to senior management at B. Altman. When Mark’s daughter suffers a serious horseback riding accident, she is faced with a new heartache, and the always-resilient Dana concentrates on her work. Dana meets a mysterious woman, Abby, in London, and she invites her to speak at a luncheon program at the Colony Club, but Abby doesn’t show. The book ends with Dana receiving a letter from Abby’s husband, and this correspondence sets the stage for Book Three.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Just a few years ago, when I started putting my ideas on paper for the TV series. That led to creative writing and storytelling. Previously, all my writing was business related.

What do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I have a busy real estate career, and my favorite time to write is early in the morning, preferably around 5:30 a.m., when my mind is clear.  It is peaceful and there are no interruptions. I won’t allow myself to even peek at e-mails. I don’t want anything to distract me for at least three hours. I am always surprised and disappointed how fast that time goes.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

My writing uniform. I always write in black cotton leggings and white long sleeve stretch-cotton t-shirts.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted a career in the fashion industry, preferably buying.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I would like to share with my post-50 readers the joy of embarking on a new adventure. We are at an age when we don’t need the approval of others, if we fail, so what. It can be fun and invigorating to get out of a comfort zone to welcome a challenge.

Website | Amazon | Pinterest

Thank you, Lynn!