I’m not sure how I became Facebook friends with Sue Silverman; I rarely accept friend requests from people I’ve not actually met in person. I do know several friends who’ve studied with Sue and sing her praises loudly. Maybe it was her generosity in sharing information about writing and publishing on one of The Binders groups for writers (on Facebook) or maybe I’d seen pictures of her fun shoes, but whatever the reason I’m glad. I think Plumesters will enjoy getting to know her and her books, too:
Plume: When did you know you were a writer?
Sue William Silverman: I never kept a journal, and I never even wrote “bad” adolescent poetry. One day in my mid-twenties, however, I literally sat down at this Smith-Corona portable typewriter and began to write a novel—more or less out of nowhere. From that first moment, when I wrote what was probably a really overwrought sentence, I knew I was a writer. I should add that I was always a voracious reader—probably since third grade.
P: You’ve written about some rather challenging topics, most notably sexual abuse and sex addiction, and now death, in essays. Do you have other memoirs in your future? Why memoir and not fiction?
SWS: First, just let me clarify, my new book isn’t exactly—or only—about death per se, in that the title is How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences. So it’s ironic!
Anyway, right now I’m writing some personal essays, but I probably don’t have another straight-through narrative memoir in me. In other words, my first two books are traditional memoirs. My two most recent books are memoirs-in-essay form. I’ve also written a craft book and two poetry collections.
I actually started out writing fiction. I’ve written something like four or five terrible (and thankfully unpublished) novels. As soon as I switched to creative nonfiction, everything fell into place, which is to say I heard my authentic writer’s voice. I never could hear an emotionally authentic voice in fiction.
P: Do you have a regular writing practice? A ritual?
SWS: I keep it simple. My only ritual is to turn on my computer every day and open the current document! That’s when I know I am at work.
P: How do you take care of yourself?
SWS: By writing! Truly, I am most centered, and have a feeling of wholeness, when I write. Writing nourishes my soul. It helps me make sense of my life; it helps me discover the metaphors of my life. It fulfills me the way nothing else does.
In another sense, since I can immerse myself in it, it’s also helped me survive this world since the 2016 presidential election!
P: What’s the best advice you’ve received from a writing teacher/mentor?
SWS: One mentor told me “voice is everything.” That’s incredibly true. I don’t believe a writer has one voice, but I believe it’s imperative to discover or hear the voice of the piece at hand.
For example, my first memoir, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, implements the voice of a wounded girl. My second memoir, Love Sick, has an edgier voice of a narrator struggling with sex addiction. In my two memoirs-in-essay, The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew and How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, the voice is more ironic—as you can probably tell from the titles.
In short, once you hear or find the voice of any individual essay or memoir, all else begins to fall into place.
P: How supportive is your local community for writers?
SWS: I teach at Vermont College of Fine Arts, a low-residency MFA in Writing program, and that is my amazing and supportive community.
P: We at Plume have a broad definition of success—How do you define “success” for a writer? For yourself?
SWS: My definition of “success” for me, or for any writer, is simply to be writing! It has nothing to do with publication. I’m not even sure I would use the word “success” since being a writer is a state of being. It’s claiming your life, your soul: “I am a writer.”
P: Do you have a writing shero? A fellow woman writer from whom you get inspiration?
SWS: Three women, actually. Sadly they’re all dead, but of course their work lives on. They are Jean Rhys, Marguerite Duras, and the poet Lynda Hull. I am madly in love with the work of all three. In particular I love Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys and The Lover by Duras.
P: What are you currently working on?
SWS: I think it’s another craft book, but I’m not altogether sure. Right now it’s in the early stages, and it seems to be kind of a hybrid manuscript. We’ll see where it goes. Plus I’m working on some personal essays.
Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of seven books of creative nonfiction and poetry. Her most recent memoir, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, was named “one of 9 essay collections feminists should read in 2020” by Bitch Media. Her other nonfiction books are Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, which was made into a Lifetime TV movie; Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, which won the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award; The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew; and Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir.Her newest poetry collection is If the Girl Never Learns. As a professional speaker, Sue has given readings and presentations at scores of colleges and non-profit organizations. Her media interviews include The View, Anderson Cooper–360, and PBS-Books. She teaches in the MFA writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. For more information please visit www.SueWilliamSilverman.com.
Sue will be our featured writer in August! Sign up for our Petite Plume on Patreon to receive a digital chapbook of her creative work, as well as a letter of encouragement to our writing community.