Lisa will be awarding a PDF copy of Notes From Nadir plus their choice of one of the following ebooks: Sweet Dreams, Diary of a Hollywood Nobody, The Wilkes House Haunting, North of Sunset, South of Sunset or Out of the Blue to one randomly drawn commenter at each stop during the tour, and a Grand Prize of a Print Copy (US ONLY) of Notes From Nadir will be awarded to one randomly drawn commenter at the end of the tour.
Notes from Nadir
by Lisa Maliga
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
A Los
Angeles-based writer returns to her Midwestern home due to financial
difficulties. Moving back in with Mom, she lands a job at an online auction
site. From encountering wacky characters to dealing with unsympathetic
relatives, to her mother's health issues, the narrator struggles with being in
Nadir--the place and the state of mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
1 What or who inspired you to
start writing?
Back in high school, my
creative writing teacher encouraged his students on the first day of class by
telling us that we all had an "A." The only stipulation to
maintaining that grade was that our writing assignments had to be on time. I
managed to write my assignments and get them to him on the day they were due
but I recall one short story was finished just before class started. That
teacher was a very positive role model and he inspired me at a time when I
needed it the most.
2 What elements are necessary
components for this genre?
A story that keeps the reader
turning the pages. A sense of time and place. Evoking the feeling of being in
the Midwest and the changing of seasons from intense cold and snow to the heat
and humidity of summertime. Showing how it feels to be far away from the main
character's adopted home of Los Angeles. One of my favorite films is Magnolia. A recurring line in that film
is: "We might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with
us." I think that is an element to this story.
While this book has more than
one classification: women's fiction, contemporary fiction, mainstream fiction
or literary fiction, the story keeps the reader wondering what will happen to
the main character. Will she remain in Nadir? What will she find there? Will
she come to terms with her past?
By imagining 'what if?' I think
those two words usually are the start of me writing any work of fiction. With Notes from Nadir, I asked what if a
character had to return to a place she had long since outgrown? My character
has left Nadir to make it as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. So the theme of
going home to a place she no longer considers home and seeing all the changes
is difficult for her. I think the mall scene illustrates it. Here's an excerpt
from Chapter 7 ~ Job Hunting in Hell:
"I collected
applications for a few stores, each with its own lighting scheme and sound
system. Absent was anything by U2 or Van Halen, which would have been playing
in my heyday, and filled them out, returning them to people who looked young
enough to be carded in any bar. Wandering around a ghost-filled mall was
scarier than any cemetery I'd visited. Cemeteries were places filled with
strangers. This mall was filled with memories of hope—my hope in a future as a
Hollywood screenwriter, or later, as a novelist. Now I was just another
unemployed bum who was living with her mother at an age when people were
watching their kids go to high school. "
4 What expertise did you bring
to your writing?
Observation and experience.
5 What would you want your
readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
Coke should be served in a Coca
Cola glass [put in freezer for about 15 minutes] filled with crushed ice and a
wedge of lemon. After you pour it add that elbow straw.
6 As far as your writing goes,
what are your future plans?
To keep writing. I'm currently
working on a collection of short stories and a novella that may be a NA romance
but it's too early to say for sure. The
Prepper's Guide to Soap Crafting and Soap Storage is my most recent book.
7 Can you give us a sneak peek
into this book? This excerpt is from Chapter 21 ~ Mexican Fiesta:
So I'd do
the honor of allowing Mom to try some real local food at a nearby restaurant
that was called Terry's Tex-Mex Restaurant. Promising name, I thought
sarcastically.
Looked
like a Denny's inside. There were jaunty red booths and a few of those booths
were augmented with wide swaths of electrical tape. Maybe the reason was due to
the clientele. Well, the few people who populated the place on a Friday night
seemed to be diners who had what Mom called "healthy appetites."
The couple nearest me easily had a combined weight of 600 pounds and a
few booths to the north were a mother and daughter team busily sucking back big
drinks and consuming their nachos and dip at an alarming rate. The almost
albino waitress wearing shorts and a white blouse appeared as Un-Hispanic as
you could imagine. When I asked for a to go menu I got a blank look for a second,
then realization dawned across the red-haired gal's features. I was handed a
food splattered plastic covered sheet of typewritten selections like
"Terrys Chicken Burito" and "Tacoes + Enciladas Special." I
figured I'd go for those two tantalizing options.
Arriving
back home with a bag full of hot Mexican food was a bit of an event that Mom
looked forward to as "something different." She'd even set the table,
using plastic table mats instead of cloth ones, and gotten herself a cold can
of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer that she sometimes allowed herself as a treat. I was
curious as to how this restaurant's offerings fared against native Los Angeles
Mexican food.
I
discovered a difference as soon as I opened up the Styrofoam container. It
began with the salsa. Pico de Gallo wasn't a complicated salsa to make and
consisted of fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime, chilies, salt, and pepper.
Maybe Terry thought that tomatoes equaled salsa. Canned tomatoes.
But the
star of the show was "Terrys Chicken Burito" a bland flour tortilla
that contained shredded chicken, at least they got that part right, shredded
iceberg lettuce, chunks of tomatoes, a dollop of sour cream and more shredded
iceberg lettuce. Oh, and a smidgeon of coagulating American cheese. If there
had been a pet dog then I would have exchanged the canned dog food for the
burrito. It was a mighty slap in the face of fine Mexican cuisine. Roach
coaches back in L.A. served better burritos. You might be racing to the
bathroom soon afterwards, but at least they were real burritos.
After we
sat down and put the suspicious looking "Tex-Mex" food on our plates,
Mom noticed my look of disappointment and had another sip of beer. I cut the
thing in half and when she got her portion she took her knife and fork and delicately
sliced off a small piece. After consuming a mouthful, she had a bigger swig of
brew. "I think Taco Bell is better," she stated.
"I
think you're right."
"Lisa,
next time ask for a sample or something."
"Mom,
there won't be a next time. Next time I'll try that Chinese restaurant."
8 When did you first decide to
submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big
step?
After I graduated from high
school. That didn't work out too well but I kept writing and improving my
writing. It didn’t matter if I passed or failed creative writing in school,
incidentally, I passed, but I was determined to be a novelist or a
screenwriter.
9 What is the best and worst
advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
Best and worst was ePublishing
back around 2000-2002. It was virtually [pun fully intended] impossible to be
rejected because there were so many new and ambitious eBook publishing
companies out there. The absolute worst advice was a PublishAmerica author
suggesting I submit my manuscript to them. I did, and it was accepted. Just
before the book's release, I sent out a press release to several newspapers to
review my book. One editor responded with a curt "we don't review books
from vanity publishers." A year later, I got my book's rights back.
10 Do you outline your books or
just start writing?
I do a general outline for
nonfiction and since my soap crafting books involve recipes it's really easy to
put those together in a coherent manner. Fiction is different. I might jot down
some sentences but generally, I just write from the beginning to the end.
11 Who is your favorite
character in the book? Can you tell us why?
Mom. I can tell you but the
book will show you.
Excerpt One:
From
Chapter 19 ~ The Boss of Bakery Bleu
I
met Gordon, a tall auburn haired man bordering on pudginess. He wore a navy
polo shirt with the golden-brown Bakery Bleu logo [a pair of crossed
breadsticks] above one of his manboobs. He shook my hand and sat down across
from me so he could see both me and all the baked goodies to the north.
"Do
tell me about yourself," he said in a hearty voice. His accent wasn't
local, that's for sure. He sounded English. Of course, I didn't think he wanted
to know about my personal history but about how valuable I'd be as a minimum
wage slave, I mean, employee. I smiled, and for once, I wasn't unhappy about
sitting across from the man even though he could only offer a part time job. I
pulled out a pale blue resume and handed it to him. He nodded and looked at it.
I knew he was probably surprised when he saw the word Dreamweaver on the bottom
where I listed a few web related things.
"You
had your own business," he studied that piece of paper atop the black
table. "You lived in Los Angeles…what're you doing here?"
Much
as I want to, I couldn't avoid that question. The man was scrutinizing me now.
I looked at his dark eyes, then down at the darker table. "Cheap rent. I
live with my mom."
He
had a genuine, hearty laugh. It sounded so wonderful after not hearing much of
it that year. And I laughed out loud myself. It was true, that cliché about
laughter being healthy.
"I
did too when I first moved here from London."
"Not
London, Kentucky?"
He
smiled broadly and I was feeling more comfortable with this man I had just met.
"England." He replied, though I knew the answer and he knew I knew
that he was from across the pond.
"The
people are so boring here," I said. Oops, not the kind of thing to say in
a job interview, especially as I was applying for a job where I'd be waiting on
those boring people. But somehow this didn't really feel like one. "I
didn't say that," I said.
He
leaned forward a bit, covered his ears, and replied, "I didn't hear
that!"
God,
we were like teenagers on a first date.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Lisa Maliga has been writing
ever since she learned how to put crayon to paper back in kindergarten. Since
then, she has learned to type and uses a laptop, citing it as way more
convenient. She still makes and uses her own soapy creations. You'll find more
about her work at:
http://www.lisamaliga.com
http://lisamaliga.wordpress.com
http://pinterest.com/lisamaliga
https://twitter.com/LisaMaliga
http://www.goodreads.com/LisaMaliga
http://www.everythingsheacreates.com
NOTES FROM NADIR – Book
Links
Amazon Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Notes-from-Nadir-ebook/dp/B00486UDJA/
Amazon Kindle UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-from-Nadir-ebook/dp/B00486UDJA/
Amazon paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Nadir-Lisa-Maliga/dp/1493519077/
Amazon paperback UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Nadir-Lisa-Maliga/dp/1493519077/
B&N NOOK http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/notes-from-nadir-lisa-maliga/1100144163?ean=2940012697790
Kobo
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/notes-from-nadir
Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35983
