Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? Extreme: A Novel. The book did in fact have a previous title, “Fear to Shred”
What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I started the first draft in Winter of 2000. I delivered it to my publisher in 2019. The book had been put on hold for several years while I published 3 other books – so it had an unusual trajectory.
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? I do my writing in my home office. It is a great space with windows that look out onto a courtyard.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I always have something at my desk – usually a tall glass of cold water and black coffee! “ (Below: Joan Gelfand’s office. Credit and Copyright by Joan Gelfand.)
Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. From chapter 20 – p. 113
“Unanswered e-mails and unwritten reports blast through her funk like multi-colored confetti shooting out of a cannon. E-mails, reports, and rallying more groups to post videos for Doug’s first load test. Kelly wants a response to her revised deadline ASAP. Arthur wants the latest blog post and analytics report.
She grabs an iced tea from the club café – black, no sugar. Just the right amount of caffeine to her through the night’s work, but not enough to keep her up all night.
But back out on the road, between Redwood Shores and B Street, her enthusiasm for work evaporates like steam from a whistling kettle. Ambition, her benevolent angel with a capital “A” that has been tracking over the crown of her head, has flown the coop. Work. Fights. Burned bridges. Nasty ex-colleagues. The test. E-mails. Arthur. Kelly. Get over your fucking self, Hope. She hears Carlos, quoting Ananda, his favorite yogi, “There is no life without discipline.” OK. I’ll do everything. I’ll go home and I’ll write that status report for Kelly.
Waiting for the light to change, Hope’s nascent resolution turns to slippery ice she can’t skate on. She hears Charlene, home after a long day at work: GIRLS! You are getting on my last nerve! And James, insisting that she tell Charlene that her father had gotten in touch. I will, she promised, I will. The light turns green.
Gunning the car through the intersection, her eyes blur with hot tears. Freaking Charlene! Could it really be that no matter how hard she runs, her mother will always haunt her?
And, that no matter how far she gets from that acrid Livermore Valley, no matter how far she moves up the hierarchy, the ladder, the food chain, or how much money she has in the bank, she can’t trust that she won’t have this sudden unannounced pull, back to her past, and the memory of Charlene’s denigration?
“Now, tell me: How are you doing to afford that, Hope Ellson?” The night the acceptance letter arrived from UC Berkeley, Charlene turned to wash the dinner dishes, railing: “You? Up at UC? Four years in college?” And then, under her breath: “For what? To prove you’re better than me?”
Driving past the marquee on the Alhambra theater, a faux-Spanish revival on El Camino, black, two-foot high letters spell out the movie’s title: “I Am Love.” The words call to her like chocolate to a chocoholic. It sounds like a secret she can’t wait to hear. She jerks the steering wheel into the Alhambra’s parking lot.
Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? This passage is one of the nexus points I wanted to communicate in “Extreme.”
That, for a lot of ambitious people, the past is a constant hurdle to overcome. If they come from a difficult background as my protagonist does, it adds a level of challenge to ever succeeding.
On top of the less than financially conducive background, Hope also is dealing with her emotional past. Her mother – daughter relationship is very complex. Not all mothers live to see their daughters succeed; in Hope Ellson’s case, her mother would be happier to keep her down. I had a challenging relationship with my mother. I did so many of the things she only dreamed of – travel, writing, living my best life. It created tension for us along the way of my becoming and living as an independent adult. So writing that passage was an affirmation: There are other women like myself who have overcome hurdles, who have followed their dreams.
I also am fascinated by self-motivation and self-discipline and the human side of many of us not being able to sustain a high degree of motivation all the time. That sometimes we slip, we change our plans, our motivation fizzles.
An award-winning poet, reviewer and novelist, Joan Gelfand’s work appears in over 150 national and international anthologies, magazines and journals. The author of three well-reviewed poetry collections, “Here and Abroad,” her chapbook of short fiction won the Cervena Barva Fiction Award and her book for writers, “You Can Be a Winning Writer: The 4 C’s of Succesful Authors,” published by Mango Press, is an Amazon #1 best seller. President Emeritus of the Women’s National Book Association and a member of the National Book Critics Circle, Joan’s debut novel, “Extreme” published by Blue Light Ptess is set in a Silicon Valley gaming startup.
For more information contact Joan Gelfand via email
or Twitter https://twitter.com/JoanGelfand
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