One of my favorite blogs belongs to writer, Joanne DeMaio. Whole Latte Life is a site for inspiration and it's a place everyone can enjoy, even your non-writing friends. Using lovely pictures and exploring ideas about enjoying yourself, Joanne creates a restful oasis on the web to help you get your synapses blooming.
Because she is such I joy, I wanted to learn more about her. She generously took the time to do an interview with me. I know you will enjoy her answers to my writing questions as much as I did.
Melody - I find your website inspirational, kind-spirited and thoughtful. What prompted you to start your blog, Whole Latte Life?
My current work of fiction focuses on knowing who we really are and staying true. While writing it, I began to notice how other, real people live their choice lives, and the goodness that follows. Now, combine that with my love of coffee. Some of life’s best talks happen over a fresh cup of java, don’t they? I blended the living-fully concept with the coffee, and joined the online writing community with a blog sharing thoughts on finding our own perfect blend of life.
Do you remember the first time you thought of yourself as a writer? How do you feel when you tell people, “I am a writer?”
If I don’t count my 4th Grade teacher, Sister Luciana, making me rewrite a poem several times because my fountain pen kept blotting on the paper (she was my first Editor!), I’d say it was with my first published piece, an Op-Ed in my state newspaper. When I tell people I write, I feel blessed in saying so. It defines who I am as a woman, a wife, a mother. There’s also some vulnerability in saying that I write, because my words reveal more of me in a different way.
What is the biggest writing project you are working on right now?
A revision of my commercial fiction manuscript shapes my life. It’s basically my breakfast, lunch and dinner. Research, outlines, and writing, morning, noon and night. Really. My poor family hasn’t seen me much while I’m immersed in this revision process. Only on coffee breaks ☺
What is the best piece of writing advice you’d like to share with everyone? I mean something that has helped you and made your writing life easier.
Well, there’s always the “Don’t quit,” “Revise,” “Write daily,” tenets. But to get to the very process of writing, make a To-Do List. Buy some awesome paper, a great pen, and seriously note each step of your current WIP (work in progress), then carve-it-in-stone and stick it on the refrigerator door, at your computer, near the TV. Then follow that list! As you cross off each step with satisfaction, your WIP takes shape and your sense of accomplishment elevates you in your writer image!
Easy Question: Do you write with music on, do you need silence or are you one of those people who can watch TV and write at the same time?
I need silence. No music, but music plays a big part in my life. It inspires me, helps me to understand the art of expression, to explore creativity in my writing. I never turn down the chance to go to a concert and see musical expression on the stage.
Finally, if you met a new writer in line at a coffee shop and he said he was writing his very first novel and he was afraid he would never finish it, what do you think you would say to him?
I’d ask him, “What’s your last name? Brown? Oh, you’d be beside Bradbury.” Or “Griffin? You’ll share space with Grisham.” Or “Kestler? Right before King.” “Stevens? Right after Shakespeare.” The reward of finishing is to share the shelf with these masters, and while writing that book, living your choice, whole lot of life. Then I’d buy him a coffee and wish him well!
What a satisfying interview! The world needs more people like Joanne. Please make sure you go visit her website, and if you leave a comment, tell her I sent you.
Joanne's Bio - Joanne DeMaio is a writer with freelance writing credits that include The Hartford Courant and local publications. Her memoir essays have appeared in literary journals while her fiction explores the concept of identity woven into family and friendships. Joanne maintains Whole Latte Life, a blog about living a choice life, and lives with her family in Connecticut.
