Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I spent most of college thinking that I was going to be a doctor. I kept failing chemistry classes, then on a whim with my roommate, I took a creative writing class, and I realized that this was it for me. I had to be a writer. After college, I taught high school English for a year and left teaching to get my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Florida Atlantic University. Getting my MFA helped me find my voice. I was writing about food and family and being an immigrant, and that’s how my novel was born.
WITH ALL MY LOVE, I WAIT is the first book I’ve ever written. I’ve written and had several short stories and personal essays published. I am currently working on a memoir.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My novel is titled WITH ALL MY LOVE, I WAIT. The novel was inspired by something that really happened to a distant relative. I was at the end of my MFA studies and needed an idea for my thesis. I was with my family for a weekly Sunday lunch and my aunt was telling me about one of my aunts in Italy, who I’d met and just adored, and her tragic love story.
She looked at me and said, “Wouldn’t that make a great movie?”
I remember leaning forward in my chair, and said, “Sure, but first it would make a great book!” And the next day I started writing it.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if I’d say this is unusual, but I do a lot of writing by hand. In this day and age, when everything is digital, it is a bit strange and foolish to write so much by hand. I like how writing by hand forces me to slow down.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I was really heavily influenced by Ann-Marie MacDonald’s novel FALL ON YOUR KNEES at a young age. That novel came out when I was about 12 or 13 years old. My mother and I read it at the same time, and I remember being so deeply moved by it. She writes so beautifully. I also love anything by Margaret Atwood.
I grew up reading the classics and majored in English for my undergraduate degree so novels like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Frankenstein are major influences on what I enjoy reading and writing. I do also love reading memoirs, especially those written by comedians. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Mindy Kaling are funny and thoughtful, and intelligent, and that’s really appealing when reading memoir.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a memoir, which may actually be more of a collection of essays. It’s really in its infancy right now. It’s about my experience as a first-generation Canadian and immigrant to the United States being raised by Italian-Catholic parents, and the role food and family impacted my identity, and how it influences my parenting.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think that promoting books is the hardest part of being a writer. I don’t know if one method is better than another, but I think having social media accounts where you interact with other writers and your reads is important, and having an internet home for yourself is important. Keeping your website up-to-date with contact information is really important as well.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
The one thing I wished I had learned earlier in my writing career was how important establishing boundaries with family and friends was to my craft. Instead of constantly explaining why I needed an hour a day or 5 hours a week to get my writing done, I just established a “no-interruption” policy in my house. I make it very clear that from the time a to b is when I’m writing, and unless the house is on fire or the Pope-mobile is parked out front, I am not to be disturbed. At the end of the day, if you treat your writing like a hobby people around you will think that’s what it is, but if you make it sacred, the rest will follow.
At the end of the day, new authors need to figure out what works for them and try out different strategies until they find one that works. For a long time, I thought I had to write every single day to be considered a writer, but between balancing my teaching career, my family, and everything else, I realized that writing every day wasn’t sustainable. I now write consistently and have very deliberate stopping points, which works for me.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve heard was to “run toward what scares you.” This idea of embracing fear has changed how I approach my writing, especially my nonfiction. With fiction, it’s easier to play around and experiment, but with nonfiction, there is that fear of “what will people think?” If you let the fear of what people might think invade your writing, you won’t be at your writing-best. Run toward it.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently read a few books, isn’t that always the way? I’m reading HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS by Cherie Jones, THE HARP AND THE RAVENVINE by Ted Sanders (part of The Keepers series), and THE FOUR WINDS by Kristen Hannah.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As I mentioned, I’m working on a memoir, but I do miss writing fiction, so I’m hoping to get a novel started as soon as I finish drafting this memoir so I can be writing something new while revising the memoir. I like having a few writing projects going at once.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would bring Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, The Catcher in the Rye, and Yes, Please.
Author Websites and Profiles
Gloria Panzera Website
Gloria Panzera Amazon Profile
Gloria Panzera’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account