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| KAREN
SIPLIN was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production from CUNY's Hunter
College. Her first novel, His Insignificant Other was a
Borders Original Voices selection. It was published in Serbia in
June 2004. Her second novel, Such a Girl was a Main
Selection of Black Expressions Book Club in 2005. She has
worked as a telephone operator at the Four Seasons Hotel in New
York City and as a celebrity personal assistant.
Want
to sync up with Karen? You can check her out at her website,
her blog,
and on MySpace! |
Click
cover to purchase YOUR copy of WHISKEY ROAD today!
| After
one too many run-ins with irate A-List celebrities and their
bodyguards on the streets of Los Angeles, paparazza Jimi Anne
Hamilton has decided to throw in the towel. But when she planned
to ride her BMW K 1200 motorcycle from California to New York,
she didn't count on having her cross-country adventure
interrupted by a motorcycle thief. Disillusioned and hurt after
the attack, Jimi chooses to recuperate in a nearby town where
she meets Caleb Atwood, a local contractor fighting his own
demons. Jimi and Caleb make a mismatched pair: black and white,
highbrow and low. But in Caleb, Jimi believes she has found
someone who is as much of an outsider as she feels. |
Talk to us about what brought you to writing.
I’ve always wanted to be a writer. When I was in elementary school, I’d pull out stacks of typing paper and pretend the stack was a book I’d written. I was also a big reader. In the early 80s, Barnes & Noble had an annex on 18th Street and Fifth Avenue where they shelved a huge selection of young adult novels. My father would take me there once a month and hang out while I spent a couple hours choosing an armload of books. I’m still a big YA fan, but I miss that seemingly endless wall of mass markets that cost less that three dollars each.
You have 25 words to pitch us WHISKEY ROAD and make us want to buy the novel...GO!
In this compelling novel, the relationship between a black city girl and a white small town boy takes a dark turn in rural New York.
Why the title, WHISKEY ROAD?
A couple of my husband’s cousins are bikers. During a visit with them, they told us about a road they liked to ride called Whiskey Road. When he said the name, I knew immediately that would be the title of my next book.
What's your favorite thing about WHISKEY ROAD?
There are three things I really love about Whiskey Road: Jimi, Caleb and Kennedy.
Jimi is fiercely independent and can defend herself. But there’s notion that a woman who can defend herself can’t be feminine. One of my goals with Jimi’s character was to create a woman who could defend herself and be desirable.
It was kind of tough to write from a white male perspective, not because I thought I couldn’t do it, but because I feared what other people would think: readers, critics, editors. Would they wonder why the hell a black woman was writing from the POV of a white man. I had to get over it and I’m proud of the finished product.
And I don’t know why, but I just really dig Kennedy.
Looking back, how difficult/easy was your journey to publication?
I think any journey to publication is difficult because there’s always some form of rejection involved. Your book is your baby. Once you put it our there, you’re somewhat vulnerable. I had about seven rejections from agents before I found mine, and then I had about six rejections from publishers before we found a home for HIS INSIGNIFICANT OTHER.
What are three adjectives that best describe WHISKEY ROAD?
fresh, sweet, gritty
What are three adjectives that best describe YOU?
shy, neurotic, curious
What have you done and what are you doing - as author - to promote WHISKEY ROAD?
I ordered boat bags with the title of my book on them. My husband and I wear them when we go shopping and I had a contest to give two of them away. I also keep a blog (sporadically) and have joined
MySpace and Facebook as a way to meet new people. And I’ve been doing interviews with fellow book lovers and writers like you.
How have you grown as a writer since your first novel, HIS INSIGNIFICANT OTHER in 2002 (which by the way, I LOVED!)?
You were one of the first people to contact me about your love for HIS INSIGNIFICANT OTHER and I’m still very grateful for that!
I’ve tried to challenge myself by writing three novels with very different heroines. My previous novels, HIS INSIGNIFICANT OTHER and SUCH A GIRL, were written in first person with women narrators. But WHISKEY ROAD came to me in Caleb’s POV and I knew a lot of the book had to be written the way he was seeing Jimi. I don’t write autobiographical novels, but with my first two books, I stole bits and pieces from my own life – I worked in a hotel and have a degree in film production. But WHISKEY ROAD’s setting and people were very new to me, and I relied on my imagination to write the book.
INSIDE YOUR MP3 PLAYER: What three tracks are you currently LOVING?
I Only Have Eyes for You by the
Flamingoes. I was listening to WNYC’s New Sounds and they played a few different versions of the song. Of course I’ve heard the Flamingoes version many times, but never really listened to it. Maybe because it was late at night and I was in bed trying to sleep, but it really affected me.
A Change is Gonna Come by Sam
Cooke. My husband recently purchased this song. I love Sam Cooke, but I’d never paid much attention to this one before. A short time after my husband bought it, a group of men walked onto the subway I was in and started singing the song. And just recently we watched Don Cheadle in Talk to Me and the character he played, Petey Greene, started talking about A Change is Gonna Come. It’s a great song.
I Still Believe from the Miss Saigon soundtrack. I saw Miss Saigon on Broadway many years ago when Jonathan Price and Lea Salonga were in the cast. I really loved it, but had forgotten all about it until recently. I can’t remember what triggered my memory, but I bought the soundtrack and started wishing I could see that musical again.
Karen Siplin: THE SOUNDTRACK! What three tracks would make it onto a soundtrack of your life, and why?
Teachers – Leonard Cohen
I’ve read that this song may be about depression and a search for answers from places that have no answers. I’m not sure how true that is, but a few lines that stand out for me make me feel as if this would be part of my life’s soundtrack. And to fully understand why, well, you’ll have to wait until I write a memoir…
I met a man who lost his mind in some lost place I had to find, follow me the wise man said, but he walked behind.
I was handsome I was strong, I knew the words of every song. Did my singing please you? No, the words you sang were wrong.
Oh teachers are my lessons done? I cannot do another one. They laughed and laughed and said, Well child, are your lessons done?
How Soon is Now – The Smiths
It’s such a great song. I think it’s about acceptance or the frustration one feels when being unfairly judged for being different.
You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way ?
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does
American Girl – Tom Petty
Again, I’m not sure what this song is supposed to be about, but I think it’s Jimi’s song (my character in Whiskey Road) as much as mine. I was raised to believe I could do anything and as I get older, I meet more and more people who try to put me in a box and tell me what I’m supposed to be because I’m a Black woman. Everything I love is wrong. I think there’s more to life than that.
Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin'
That there was a little more to life somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
You're going on vacation, and you're only allowed to take three books with you -- what are they?
Impossible! Seriously. I bring 3 books with me when I’m just going to spend one night at my parents’ place. The immediate “to read” pile on my desk is currently up to 49 books (I just counted). Three books from that pile (chosen randomly) are Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, Dorothy Koomson’s Marshmallows for Breakfast and Marie Brennan’s Midnight Never Come.
Who are some of your favorite writers, and how do they inspire you as a writer?
Tawni O’ Dell writes novels I want to write. There’s something about her voice that strikes a chord with me. I adore everything she’s written.
James Baldwin puts words to paper magnificently. Sometimes I just sit and reread his sentences, trying to work out how he did it.
Deanna Raybourn’s mystery series makes me happy. Her character, Lady Julia Grey, is lovable and funny. I’ve reread the two books in the series and can’t wait for third.
Elizabeth Peters’s Vicky Bliss novels are smart and immensely entertaining. That’s not an easy task for a writer. She writes gothic novels under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels. I’d love to write a gothic novel someday, so her books inspire me because they’re so accessible.
Word Association. What comes to mind when you see the following words:
LIFE: Great TV show starring a British actor named Damian Lewis. It’s shocking and intelligent. I can’t wait for it to return in the fall.
WRITING: Reminds me that I should have gone to med school. But is deeply satisfying when I put words down on paper.
RELATIONSHIPS: Important to stay sane even though they can drive you crazy!
WHISKEY ROAD: The Great American Novel. ::grin::
KAREN
SIPLIN: An adorable work-in-progress.
What advice would you offer aspiring-to-be-published authors?
I always say this, but that’s because it’s true: Write everyday, even if it’s in a journal. Writing everyday is the only way you will find your voice.
Read everything. Reading as much as possible broadens a writer’s horizons.
Take a writing class with a published author and join a professional writing group with other writers who are serious about revising their work and getting published.
And get a degree in law or medicine. It’s always good to have a side job!
What is one big thing you've learned about the industry since you've been published?
The industry changes very quickly and it’s important to stay informed. It’s also important to build relationships in this business.
Dream-on: You've just been told that someone wants to turn WHISKEY ROAD into a movie. Who would play Jimi Anne Hamilton and Caleb Atwood?
I can usually rattle off five or six actors who can play the leads in my previous novels, but I’ve had a hard time with WHISKEY ROAD. Sometimes, I see an average guy on the street I think looks like Caleb, but he’s a tough one to cast. I’d love to see Naomie Harris (28 Days, August), Tangi Miller (Felicity) or Kerry Washington (Ray) don a leather motorcycle outfit to play Jimi Anne Hamilton. And if you twist my arm, I’d say Jason Wiles (Third Watch), without the goatee, could work as Caleb Atwood.
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m writing my next two novels – one is for young adults.
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