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When I found out last spring that Contributing Editor Melissa Ford was publishing a novel, I maybe squealed a little. A few months ago I got an advanced copy of Life From Scratch from her publisher, and I maybe squealed again when I saw it in my mailbox. Holding a book someone you know wrote in your hands is a true joy in a reader's life.
Life From Scratch introduces us to Rachel Goldman. She's in her thirties, lives in New York City, is going through a divorce and has no idea how to cook for herself. So she did what so many of us would have done in those circumstances -- she starts a blog and learns how to cook. To her surprise, people start reading her blog and she starts to let more people into her life, such as a certain sexy Spaniard. But is Rachel really ready move on to the next course in her life?
One of the advantages of knowing someone who writes a book is that once you finish it and are bursting to talk about it it with someone, you demand politely ask them to sit down with you and talk about it. Melissa kindly agreed to not only answer my questions about her book but to share her answers with you.
This is your second book but your first novel. You also blog. How different was it for you to write fiction?
Writing fiction was very different. Non-fiction -- for me -- is like a fixed-form poem. The parameters of non-fiction provide a cozy little space where what needs to be done is very much a black-and-white situation with the creativity being the way in which the material is presented. Fiction is like a free-form poem. Some people think the lack of set rules would make it easier, but often times it's harder. Especially if you can't really picture how a scene unfolds or how to get the character from Point A to Point B.
The book, and each chapter, in your novel starts off with a blog post. Why did you decide to make blogging such an integral part of the novel?
I finally took one of those mainstay pieces of advice from MFA departments -- write what you know. Blogging is a huge part of my life, therefore, it made sense to make it a big part of the novel. I didn't want to write another non-fiction book -- certainly not one about blogging -- but I wanted to explore how it feels to put your inner-most thoughts out there. The good part that anyone can read your blog; but also the bad part -- anyone can read your blog!
You were not only writing Rachel's story, but her blog as well. As for many of us, her voice wasn't quite the same on her blog as it was in her real life. You essentially had to create two voices for her. Was that an extra challenge?
When I originally wrote the manuscript, it didn't have the blog entries, but my agent said, "we need to hear Rachel's blog voice!" So those entries were added. The funny part was that I had to write them in Blogger and then cut-and-paste them into the manuscript. So the rest of the book was written as a Word Doc, but those blog entries had to be written on a blog platform. It was very strange, but it was the way I got over the mental block I had of not really knowing Rachel's voice despite having described her blog in the main text.
Rachel, like many of us in the early days of our blogs, had no idea how many people were really reading. After a friend introduces her to a stats tracking program, she's astonished. I'm very lackadaisical when it comes to paying attention to my stats, even though I find the information I get from them rather fascinating. Are you a stats person?
Yes and no. I love numbers, love to see how things unfold, so I check my stats from time to time. But I've also learned after 4+ years of blogging that there is no magical formula to increasing your readership, nor is there any way to predict what will resonate with people. There are posts
