Pump Up Chats with S.B. Lerner

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S.B. Lerner has worked as an attorney in Manhattan, and in the evenings she wrote and published short stories. They are now available as a collection, called In the Middle of Almost and Other Stories.

After getting married and becoming a mom, she was struck with the importance of knowing family history, so she researched and wrote the story of her father’s life. It was through learning about his early interest in a Zionist youth group in Poland that she became interested in the subject of her first novel, A Suitable Husband, which is set in prewar Poland.

When not writing, teaching an ESOL class, doing ‘mom’ things or playing with the puppy, she is at her desk working on another novel set on a college campus in New York. You can visit S.B. Lerner’s website at www.sblerner.com, and read her blog ‘Novel Thoughts” through a link on the website, or join the discussion (and Like us) at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-the-Middle-of-Almost-and-Other-Stories/265178710186807?ref=ts&sk=wall. You can find Susan’s book on Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12708823-in-the-middle-of-almost-and-other-stories

Thank you for this interview,Susan. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later? Do you remember your first published piece?

A:I kept a diary when I was younger. In it I explored all the nuances of people I knew: my parents, my friends, random strangers. So perhaps that was training for developing characters later on. I wrote for the school paper, and that was my first byline. I wrote for journals as a lawyer, and then had my first short story published about fifteen years ago.

What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?

A: Although the stories in my collection were previously published in literary magazines and newspapers, the collection is self-published. So it’s no surprise that marketing is the biggest challenge. It is also kind of fun. I find I’m meeting people from all over the world, from Bangledesh to the U.K. to Canada, people who I enjoy “talking” to in groups I join and through messages to my website or blog. It’s interesting how sometimes a blog post or comment in a group will resonate with a stranger.

Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life? Do you have support?

A: I’m married. My husband is very supportive of my writing. He hands out my cards to people (the one with the book cover and my website) and shows the book to people on his iPad. He can get a little embarrassing with his enthusiasm, but he has made some sales!

Can you tell us about your latest book and why you wrote it?

A: In the Middle of Almost and Other Stories came about because an ebook seemed like a good way to share the stories and memoir. I wrote them because short stories are the perfect literary form to explore a single emotional arc. Some come to a natural conclusion; with others I find the ending, the last sentence or two, to be the most difficult part. In one of the stories in the collection, I’m still not sure I got it right. I think the reader is left touched by them, and people relate to the characters. Some people find them sensual, not because they are explicit (they are not) but because of the mood, or perhaps, the honesty.

Can you share an excerpt?

A: Sure. This is from, “Out on a Ledge”—

Jessica sat on a ledge that enclosed a patch of grass in front of her white brick apartment building. It was too hot to stay inside her summer-sublet apartment; even her light, linen dress was soggy from the humid air. Passing cars honked and fragments of conversation wafted by, lingering in the air along with the aroma of Chinese food carried by delivery boys on bicycles. She glanced up, but tall buildings cut the evening sky into ribbons. It felt as though she was in a giant maze.

She let out a sigh. She was living in Manhattan to be close to her job, not for the nightlife. Sometimes other students who worked as summer associates at the law firm asked her to join them as they club crawled downtown. But she spoke softly, so it was a strain to be heard over the music, and she didn’t enjoy drinking anyway. She worked long, tiring hours, and preferred to sit on the ledge, smoking a cigarette to wind down.

Her job followed on the heels of her first grueling year of law school and the work required intense concentration. It seemed to her as though her whole future lay in the balance with every memo she wrote, every passing conversation with a partner at the firm. An image of the short, overweight, balding attorney she reported to took form in her mind and her throat tightened at the thought of him. His head jutted forward on his neck as he scurried around the office on seemingly important missions, like Alice’s rabbit, always about to be late. She treated him with ostensible respect, but he seemed faintly ridiculous to her and in the privacy of the moment she allowed herself to finally laugh aloud, almost choking on the smoke in her lungs.

It was then she realized that the uniformed attendant from the garage across the street was watching her with interest, as though he wanted to share the joke. Or perhaps he was simply curious about why she was sitting outside alone. It crossed her mind that any distraction might be a relief from the monotony of parking cars.

“Keeping cool out here?” he said, pausing before crossing back to the garage.

“Just barely.” Her instinct was to be wary about friendliness from a stranger in the big city.

“Yeah, I guess you need to go by the river for some breezes,” he said, as he ambled back across the street.

She noticed he had a pleasant voice, through the haze of her caution. Its timbre reminded her of a tenor sax, mellow and soothing, and she felt herself relax. She’d been vaguely aware of the him; he had passed her several times, taking cars to an overflow lot next to her building and then returning to the main lot across the street. He had merely been part of the scenery. Suddenly he was a presence to be reckoned with. Feeling exposed, she went inside a few minutes later, but was annoyed at depriving herself of the city’s breezes, however polluted, after a long day at work.

Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

A: My favorite place to write is at a desk in my den when no one else is in the room. It’s by a window and the room is fairly large and airy and peaceful.

What is one thing about your book that makes it different from other books on the market?

A: Most stories are variations of a few themes, but each voice is unique. You’ll know it when you read it.

Tables are turned…what is one thing you’d like to say to your audience who might buy your book one day?

A: Thank you for reading!

Thank you for this interview, Susan. Good luck on your virtual book tour!

A: Thank you! You asked some thoughtful questions. I hope that readers or other authors will contact me to share their thoughts and experiences. I can be reached through the contact page on my website: http://sblerner.com or at samsonbooks7@gmail.com.

Hope to cyber-meet you!

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach