Holiday Welcome to Guest Author Melissa Clark!
I’m happy to have author Melissa Clark visiting with me today. The genesis of her very successful debut novel Swimming Upstream Slowly came about in a really funny way.
“The idea was born because I was having lunch with a friend and overate,” she says. “I lifted my shirt to expose my bloated belly and the friend said, half joking, ‘Are you sure you’re not pregnant?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, right, from a lazy sperm.’ I went home that night and started outlining the idea for a movie. I decided, eventually, to write it as a novel instead.”
Need I say more? Please welcome Melissa Clark…
JG: Tell me a little about your book.
MC: “Swimming Upstream, Slowly,” is about Sasha Salter, who wakes up one day and finds she’s pregnant, only she hasn’t had sex in over two years. To her unbelieving ears comes the doctor’s diagnosis – she’s been harboring a ‘lazy sperm’. She must now retrace her love life and figure out who the father is, all while her career is burgeoning.
JG: What got you writing in the genre in which you write.
MC: I’m not sure what genre I write in! I’ve always been fascinated by the medical world. Medical Chick Lit?
JG: Favorite thing about being a writer?
MC: Writing. Knowing other writers. Having the ability to practice my skill 24/7. Writing conferences. Book publications.
JG: Least favorite thing about being a writer?
MC: Writing. Isolation. Achy fingers.
JG: What is the most interesting thing that’s happened to you since becoming a published author?
MC: I was invited to speak at the Carmel Authors and Ideas Festival. There is a famous food writer named Melissa Clark who writes for the NY Times and I was sure they meant to invite her. I wined and dined with the likes of Frank McCourt and Elizabeth Edwards. I gave a talk during which I explained that I thought they invited the wrong Melissa Clark. The audience thought it was hysterical. They were cracking up, but I was really venting my insecurity. The head of the program came up to me after the reading and said it was great, but never assured me…a few months later a friend, after hearing that story, told me she knew the other Melissa Clark–they had been in a wedding together–and gave me her email. I wrote about that experience and she replied, “That’s okay, everyone thinks I wrote the lazy sperm book.”
JG: What’s your favorite type of pie?
MC: Apple. WIth a heaping scoop of ice cream.
Melissa Clark is the creator and executive producer of the award-winning television series, ‘Braceface’, and has written for shows on the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and Fox. She received a master’s degree from the writing program at U.C. Davis, and currently lives in Los Angeles. This is her first novel.
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