Celebrating Friends Who Do Amazing Things

I haven’t had a lot of internet time over the last few weeks, but luckily, I checked in with my friend Corine Gantz of Hidden in France just as she announced that her first novel Hidden in Paris has been published.  You turn your back for 5 minutes…

I am soo excited for her and for us lucky readers, because Corine writes so well – funny, insightful and full of heart.

I asked if I could interview her as a way to encourage the rest of us to take a chance and follow a dream.  She graciously said yes and answered these questions:

1)    What inspired you to write a novel?

About ten years ago I read a novel that was just vile and I could not believe it was a best seller being made into a movie (no names!) And I was silly enough to tell myself “If this author can get published so can I” and “It can’t be that hard”.  I was, of course, terribly wrong on both counts: writing a novel is a momentous undertaking, and being published quite rare.  For every written novel there are a thousand started and abandoned.  And for every published one there are a hundred sitting in drawers never to see the light of day. Had I known what I know now I wouldn’t have started, and I’m thankful for my naiveté, because this has been an amazing ride.
 
2) Was it a scary process?
 
What, me scared? You’re speaking perhaps of the highs I got as I wrote, the doubts, the guilt, the alternating self-flagellating and self-aggrandizement, the horrid dry spells, the rejections, the criticism, looking for an agent, getting an agent, losing an agent, every part of this terrified me to bits. Even after the novel was finished I was afraid to put myself out there, afraid of failure.  Now that Hidden in Paris is out I’m scared people won’t like my story and my beloved character, which I have grown a tad defensive about. I have braved many, many fears to do this and it feels great! 
 
3)    How excited are you now that it’s in print?
 
It really is like a birth.  It was painful but it is OUT!  I have the most elating feeling of completion.  And to hold what was once just an idea in my hand gives me great pleasure.
 
4) Any words of encouragement for anyone else who wants to follow their dream?
 
I would say picture the destination, where you want to be, and do not bother yourself with the how.  If you focus of the roadblocks and impossibilities you will stop yourself every step of the way.  But if you have a strong enough vision and you do not censor yourself, things will conspire in making your dream possible.  You’ll recognize opportunities and take one micro step at a time. In the process of publishing Hidden in Paris I constantly reminded myself that other books too were created one word, and one sentence at a time, and that every published author was once an unpublished one.
 
….aaaand anything else you’d want people to know.
 
I want people to know that had it not been for the support of bloggers who sent such wonderful feedback and lovely emails, I would never have been able to finish this project. Bloggers have given me strength and they have given me wings in ways that friends and even family could never have.

Thanks so much, Corine, for giving us a such a great road-map for following our dreams!  Huge congratulations to you!

I hope you’ll all be taking a look at your dreams this weekend (and buying Hidden in Paris, of course).  Please let me know how it goes. I’m waiting to cheer for each and every one of you!