Meet the Author: Roselee Blooston
This week in our ongoing "Meet the Author" series, we spoke with Roselee Blooston, author of the novel Trial by Family (2019), a Gold Medal Winner in the 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards; the memoir Dying in Dubai (2016), a 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year and a 2017 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist; The Chocolate Jar and Other Stories (2022); and Almost: My Life in the Theater (2022), all published by Apprentice House Press, Loyola University Maryland.
She worked professionally as a solo performer, touring four of her plays nationally and internationally at the Edinburgh Festival and over Voice of America. In 2022, she merged her performing and writing lives by returning to the stage for the solo performance/book launch of Almost: My Life in the Theater at the Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck. Her other publications include AARP The Magazine, literary journals, and anthologies. She founded the New Jersey non-profit Tunnel Vision Writers Project Inc. Her fifty-year teaching career included university programs and conservatories. She has conducted writing master classes at Quinnipiac University, as well as Write Your Story workshops for the Nuvance Wellness Program, and Things Left Unsaid workshops for Camp Widow’s international conferences. Roselee Blooston lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Describe your book in 25 words or less.
Almost: My Life in the Theater, a memoir, deals with ambition, failure, and the drive to create. Anyone who has followed a passion will identify.
What inspired you to write this book?
I was wrestling with nagging questions about my past life in the theater. I asked myself and the reader to deeply consider the true meaning of success and the value of a creative life.
Tell us a little about the book writing process.
I wrote the first draft of this memoir in 2015 and then put it away, when my first memoir, Dying in Dubai, found a publisher. Over the next few years, while bringing a novel, Trial by Family, and a collection, The Chocolate Jar and Other Stories, to publication, I continued to work on drafts of Almost–a 7 year process. I tend to write 5-6 days a week when working on a first draft. During the revision process, I can work 7 days, if necessary. In order to write this memoir, I re-read my 13 diaries, from adolescence on. Research indeed!
What do you do for fun when you're not writing?
I love to read, go to concerts, museums, and the theater. In the summer, I swim and kayak.
What's the next project you're working on?
I am working on a collection of personal essays about my time in the Hudson Valley, tentatively titled, In Another Place.
What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Read in all genres, not just your own. Write 5 or 6 days a week, even if for only 5 minutes. It's important to build the habit. Don't edit yourself when writing a first draft. Remember, you are making the clay. Later, you can shape it.
What are you currently reading?
Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
Tell us about one of your favorite books or a book that changed your life.
As a young person, I read and reread Jane Eyre. I loved being transported to a country I didn't know, as well as the singularity of the heroine's sensibility. She had such a strong inner core and inspiring resilience.
Do you have a favorite quote from a book?
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail Again. Fail better." —Worstward Ho, by Samuel Beckett
Who are some of your favorite authors?
Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Lionel Shriver, Alice Munro, and Salman Rushdie
If you enjoyed this interview and would like to learn more about Roselee Blooston and her work, you can visit her website at roseleeblooston.com, or connect with her on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Dying in Dubai, Trial by Family, The Chocolate Jar and Other Stories, and Almost: My Life in the Theater are currently available in store and online.