The IMWA is excited to announce Anastasia Zadek, the author of The Other Side of Nothing: A Novel, as our May 2024 Member of the Month! Please take a minute to read Anastasia’s interview with IMWA Board Member Janet Hafner.
1. How long have you been a member of IMWA? What are the benefits of that membership?
I have been a member of IMWA (and SDMWA before that) for many years. I have benefited from the monthly meetings from both a creative and a business perspective. Whether it is a discussion with an author about their work, workshops on the writing process, or sessions on marketing, legal considerations, or publishing options, the programming covers a broad range of topics, and the speakers are open to taking questions from members. The annual Memoir Showcase allows writers to go all the way from drafting and submitting to polishing their work through an extensive editing process to watching it be performed on stage or published in an anthology. The Warwick’s + San Diego Writers Festival Book Club gives members the chance to read as writers and interact with authors in a unique and personal way. And the San Diego Writers Festival (which, full disclosure, is one of my passion projects) provides opportunities for members to learn, get inspired, and connect with our vibrant and growing San Diego writing community. One other note: having been involved in all kinds of writing workshops, classes, and conferences, the annual $50 price of membership is incredibly reasonable.
2. Tell us what inspires you.
I am inspired by human beings and the life events we all experience—birth, growing up, interacting with family (however that might be defined), relationships coming together and falling apart, joy, loss, grief, the search for meaning, pivotal decisions, outstanding achievements, small everyday moments, and continuing to become ourselves. I am also inspired by nature, my environment, and abstract concepts that help me interpret and understand my world.
3. If you take writing classes or workshops, how do they benefit your writing?
No matter where I have been in my writing journey, classes and workshops have opened my mind to novel ways of approaching the creative process, given me fresh perspectives, and provided me with feedback and tools to improve my practice and the work generated by that practice! It is easy to get stuck or begin to doubt yourself as a writer; working with and learning from others is one of the best ways to get unstuck, rediscover the joy of writing, and boost your confidence.
4. Who are your favorite authors? Favorite memoirs?
I am an equal-opportunity reader. I love fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, historical biographies, short stories, and essays. It is hard for me to pick favorites, but authors whose work I admire greatly include Amor Towles, Geraldine Brooks, David Sedaris, Anthony Doer, Elizabeth Berg, Doris Lessing, Wallace Stegner, Jodi Picoult, Celeste Ng, Tana French, Alice Munro, and John Steinbeck. I have the same problem with naming favorite memoirs, but here are a few particularly memorable ones: When Breath Becomes Air, Becoming, Night, Angela’s Ashes, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Under My Skin.
5. Any advice for new writers?
Find a community of writers with whom you can learn, share, and grow (and that will hold you accountable—deadlines do work!). Trust your process, and read, read, read.
6. Anastasia, please tell us what’s special about your book.
This book, The Other Side of Nothing, comes from my heart. I have struggled with depression and anxiety for most of my adult life. For decades, I managed these with exercise, journaling, and occasional talk therapy. I rarely spoke about my depression and anxiety with others, sometimes even keeping it from therapists. So when I learned that a loved one was struggling with the same issues and couldn’t/wouldn’t talk about it with me or anyone else, I understood on one level. The thing was, I wanted to help them. I wanted to love them “better.” When I realized that though love is powerful, it cannot fix everything, I knew I wanted to write about it. So many portrayals of mental illness in popular culture (books, movies, TV series) are unrealistic or sensationalized. I wanted to create a relatable scenario in which readers could put themselves in the shoes of those struggling and those watching them struggle and see what it’s like when you are on both sides of this particular equation. While Kirkus calls it “a stunning story of mental illness and its challenges,” it is also a story about love, loss, self-determination, and second chances. As one reviewer put it, it is “heartbreaking but hopeful.”
Speaking of hope, I believe every author has a secret hope for their books. My hope for The Other Side of Nothing is that it creates empathy for all those impacted by mental illness. And that it helps people i(individuals, couples, friends, and family) by encouraging open conversations about how mental illness feels, how it manifests, the variety of treatment options available, the difficulty and patience required to find the right one, and the benefits when people can change the phrase struggling to managing.
My book launch is on May 29, at 7:30 PM (PDT), at Warwick’s in La Jolla, where I will converse with IMWA founder and SDWF co-founder and director Marni Freedman. The event is free, but people can reserve a seat with the purchase of a book. I would love to see members of the writing community out in the audience—people are my favorite thing (and dogs, because, well, dogs).
Website: https://anastasiazadeik.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anastasiazadeik
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anastasiazadeik/
