Trisha Wooldridge Interview Part 2

We're back with Trisha, for more insight.

What brought you to Broad Universe, and what do you like best about the organization?

A friend of mine from a longstanding writer's group, the DragonWriters, said that she loved Broad Universe and had found a lot of publishing information and opportunities there, so she convinced me to join.  I thank her very much because I've met so many amazing women in the organization - many who have had a direct influence on getting my fiction and non-fiction published and forwarding my career.  Also, I have always felt that women need to help each other because, unfortunately, we are still at a disadvantage in the realms of business, publishing, rights, expectations, and opportunities.  We should honor, celebrate, and nurture each other, and I believe in taking an active role to do that.

What do you feel is the greatest challenge and the greatest asset of being a woman author?

I recently wrote a blog post entitled, The Devil Wears Post-Feminism, where I shared several stories of women who still had to hide behind male or non-gendered pseudonyms.  Yes, there are women who submit the very same work under a non-feminine name and not only get it accepted but get offered more money!  That's wrong and needs to be changed.  On the other hand, in a recent poll Broad Universe did of various magazines, women's submissions followed submissions better and overall had a higher level of writing.  I do think women are more detail-oriented than men, and in many cases we already expect to work hard to get what we want; we don't automatically assume an agent or publisher will do our work for us.  We know how to be part of a team.

What is the story behind the greatest lesson you've learned so far as an author?

The greatest lesson I've learned, not only as an author but a person, is that you never stop learning.  There will always be things we will never, ever know; our world is so HUGE we simply cannot learn everything about anything.  Never assume you know what you think you know.  Always double check yourself.  And forever search for new things to learn about.

The story behind this is that my co-author and I wrote a good 75% of a novel based on a Biblical premise that we both were sure we knew.  Well, when we got to the details of the story and opened our respective Bibles - well, let's just say we had an AWFUL LOT of rewriting and reorganizing to do.  This was about 3 weeks into NaNoWriMo for both of us, too.  Yeah.  Research = Healthy Blood Pressure.

What is your favorite comfort food or drink to help you write?  What do you save as reward treats for meeting goals and deadlines?

My number one comfort food for writing is chocolate - dark, dark, chocolate.  Potato chips are a close second.  I am also a fan of a proper California Zinfandel (deep, black red with a hint of chocolate and a huge burst of fruit - did I mention I was a food/wine writer, too?).  However, I also will drink various mixers when I need them, usually containing amaretto.  During the day, I'm a coffee and tea fiend and will eat all meals at the keyboard if not watched.  As a reward, I open an expensive dessert wine, like a Trochenberrenauslese or an Ice Wine.
 
What is your favorite organizational trick for meeting all of your goals and deadlines?

My favorite trick is to force accountability and have outside forces create deadlines for me.  I've got regular readers of my blog, so I will let them down if I miss a blog deadline.  I get friends to pester me because they are expecting a chapter/scene/whatnot, and whenever I write with a partner, I feel dedicated to that other person - so it has more priority than stuff I have no deadline for but to myself.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure (be it food, a habit, a show…)?  And how do you rationalize giving into it?

Sleeping in and dreaming is my favorite guilty pleasure, especially on weekends and when I don't have anywhere immediate to be.  I often lose hours dreaming - and I recall all of my dreams with the utmost vivid detail.  But, I can rationalize all this because many of my favorite stories have either germinated or found resolution during these times.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and time with us at the Far Edge of Normal!

Check out more about Trisha here: Trisha Wooldridge, A Novel Friend, http://www.anovelfriend.com/blog.htm