#Author Diaries is pleased to welcome Kelly Wilson, Gravity Imprint author of Caskets from Costco.
Kelly Wilson is an author and comedian who entertains and inspires with stories of humor, healing, and hope. She is the author of Live Cheap & Free, Don’t Punch People in the Junk, and Caskets From Costco, along with numerous articles and short stories for children and adults. Kelly currently writes for a living and lives with her Magically Delicious husband, junk-punching children, dog, cat, and stereotypical minivan in Portland, Oregon. Read more about her at www.wilsonwrites.com.
What is your book’s genre/category? Memoir
Please describe what the story/book is about.
Caskets From Costco is a funny book about grief that demonstrates the certainty of hope and healing in an uncertain and painful world.
NOW FOR THE JUICY, FUN PART ~ DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT WHAT MAKES YOU, THE AUTHOR TICK.
Please pick 15 random questions from Proust’s Questionnaire and answer.
What is your greatest fear?
When I was younger, I read Walden and was really taken with Hendry David Thoreau. This quote in particular has stuck with me: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” My greatest fear is to come to the end of my life and realize that I had not, in fact, really lived.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
The ingrained habit of pleasing people at all cost. This is definitely a hard habit to break, especially believing that my needs are important and worthwhile.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Victimization happens to us. Being a victim is something we choose. I have the hardest time dealing with people who believe that they are victims and have victim behaviors.
Which living person do you most admire?
I most admire Stephen Colbert. He intelligently funny, sensitive, compassionate, thoughtful, and strong. I love how he balances humor with serious issues and feelings, as well as his ability to effectively communicate that tricky balance.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
When I see myself in mirrors (which I have just really started to look at) or photos, I mostly criticize how puffy I look. I have always struggled with my weight. The extra weight I carry on my frame is a symbol of how I am trying to protect myself on the outside as well as the inside. It’s a reminder that sometimes I overeat to either feel or avoid feeling, to escape.
Which living person do you most despise?
This honor goes to both of my parents, who victimized me in a variety of ways, who stole what is most sacred and innocent and valuable. I continue to work on healing from their actions.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Gentle strength.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My husband. He’s a friggin’ rock star. We’ve been married for 20 years, and we still like to be together.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would spend less time protecting myself and more time having adventures.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I’m still standing and fairly sane, able to function for the most part in my life as a writer, comedian, wife, and mother. That’s me, keeping expectations low!
What is your favorite occupation?
Teaching.
What is your most marked characteristic?
I’m funny. Seriously.
What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty. I have a strong aversion to pretending that everything is okay when it isn’t. I appreciate people who know what they need and honestly communicate. Also, a sense of humor helps immensely.
Who are your favorite writers?
My absolute favorite – since I was ten and huddled among the dusty shelves in my school library – is Madeleine L’Engle. I like a wide variety of writers: Diana Gabaldon, Elizabeth Peters, Laurie R. King, Ann Lamott, Nadia Weber-Boltz, and – wait for it – Tom Clancy.
What is your motto?
My motto is Choose Boldly, Fail Loudly, Embrace Criticism, and Celebrate Success
What motivated you to write the book and what have you learned about yourself from the process?
The only way I could process the grief and trauma I had been through was to write about it. Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. I can’t explain why, but I felt a very visceral need to get this book out into the world and into people’s hands. There is always hope.
Thank you Kelly for chatting, opening up and taking the Proust challenge. I wish you continued success with your writing, family, vast literary interests, always sticking up for yourself, and finding the humor in every situation.
Website? http://www.wilsonwrites.com
Where can we find your book? http://www.amazon.com/Caskets-Costco-Kelly-Wilson/dp/1513703919/
You can follow Kelly around the web
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilsonWrites
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KW_Writes
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/wilsonwrites
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KellyWilsonWrites
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6548683.Kelly_Wilson
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/wilsonwrites/
Amazon Author Page – http://www.amazon.com/Kelly-Wilson/e/B0030ZX24S
ABOUT JACQUELINE CIOFFA
Jacqueline Cioffa was an international model for 17 years and celebrity makeup artist. She is a dog lover, crystal collector and Stone Crab enthusiast. Her work has been featured in the anthologies, Brainstorms, Feminine Collective’s Raw & Unfiltered Vol. 1, and numerous literary magazines. Living with manic depression, Jacqueline is an advocate for mental health awareness, and author of the poignant literary debut, The Vast Landscape, and soul-stirring sequel, Georgia Pine.
The essence continues because you do. Harrison leaves the door open a crack. I seize the opportunity to revisit my whole, healthy self a bit longer, live in the mystic beach home I adore, dream eyes open. Hope is our greatest asset. To choose hope against the worst possible odds is the true measure of life. ~ Georgia Pine by Jacqueline Cioffa
Look for her new column, “Bleeding Ink” with Feminine Collective.
“The essence continues because you do. Harrison leaves the door open a crack. I seize the opportunity to revisit my whole, healthy self a bit longer, live in the mystic beach home I adore, dream eyes open. Hope is our greatest asset. To choose hope against the worst possible odds is the true measure of life.” ~ Georgia Pine by Jacqueline Cioffa
Look for her new column, “Bleeding Ink” with Feminine Collective.
The Infamous Proust Questionnaire
In the 1880s, long before he claimed his status as one of the greatest authors of all time, teenage Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871–November 18, 1922) filled out an English-language questionnaire given to him by his friend Antoinette, the daughter of France’s then-president, as part of her “confession album” — a Victorian version of today’s popular personality tests, designed to reveal the answerer’s tastes, aspirations, and sensibility in a series of simple questions. Proust’s original manuscript, titled “by Marcel Proust himself,” wasn’t discovered until 1924, two years after his death. Decades later, the French television host Bernard Pivot, whose work inspired James Lipton’s Inside the Actor’s Studio, saw in the questionnaire an excellent lubricant for his interviews and began administering it to his guests in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1993, Vanity Fair resurrected the tradition and started publishing various public figures’ answers to the Proust Questionnaire on the last page of each issue.
Comments