#WriterWednesday Interview with Nancy Cole Silverman
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I’d like to welcome the fabulous Nancy Cole Silverman to the blog for #WriterWednesday!
Things you never want to run out of: Ideas. I love the blank page when I begin a story, and I’m always surprised what shows up when I sit down to write. I hope I never run out of ideas and that enthusiam. It’s a terrific gift, and I try to honor it daily.
Things you wish you’d never bought: Online noname clothing. I’m a sucker for a pretty dress and during the pandemic I enjoyed online shopping, only to be disappointed when the item showed up in the mail and looked nothing like what I had ordered. I tried to return a dress once, and the sender didn’t want it back. We negotiated back and forth for a refund. The sender increased the amount of the refund with each email. I felt like I was battering and it became a game for me. Finally, the website refuned my entire purchase price plus mailing cost and told me to keep the dress!
A few of your favorite things: Obvioulsy my favorite things are my family and my pets. The older I get the more I charish older items, like old clothes—those that still fit—pictures and jewelry that remind me of special times.
Things you need to throw out: Old shoes! I’ve a closet full.
Words that describe you: Tall, blonde, female and determined.
Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: klutzy. I’m a lefty and constantly confusing my right for my left.
Favorite music or song: There are so many, but my favorites are Broadway tunes. I’m a real Broadway Baby when it comes to stage tunes. The minute I hear a familiar tune I sing along.
Music that drives you crazy: Some heavy metal. It’s nervewracking to me, and I have to turn it off.
Favorite beverage: Wine! Unless it’s really hot and then it’s water, followed by wine.
Something that gives you a sour face: Unsweetened lemon juice. We have a lemon tree in our yard and I enjoy making fresh lemonade but please....add plenty of sweetner!
Last best thing you ate: That’s an easy one. Last night we went to a favorite restaurant and I order Chicken Marsal with mushroom in a creamy wine sauce. Supurb! Loved it!
Last thing you regret eating: The chocolate and caramel ice cream bomb I ate after finishing my main course. Couldn’t resist it...but wow...talk about a sugar high!
Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries. Historical Fiction.
Books you wouldn’t buy: Books with a racy cover.
Best thing you’ve ever done: Travel. Visit historical sights. Take cooking classes. Walk through medieval towns and enjoy a glass of wine while reading a book.
Biggest mistake: Getting lost on a freeway with an almost empty tank of gas in a city I didn’t know.
The funniest thing to happen to you: I won’t say the following incident I’m about to share is the funniest thing to have ever happened to me, but it is the most recent and poigant event in my life and will remain forever a happy memory.
My ninty-nine-a-half year old mother recently passed. Fortunately, I was able to spend her last week with her and she was in good spirits to the very end. We spent that week reminessing and enjoying the time we had left. The day before she died, I arrived at her apartment early and found her sitting up in bed. She had taken the oxygen tube from her nose and was dangling her legs over the side of the bed, tying to get up.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
She answered in a very determined manner. “Don’t we have an appointment today?”
I realized she was confused and picked up the oxygen tube, and not wanteing to stress her, gently put my arms around her and tried to help her back into bed.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I’ll have to check my calendar. Meanwhile, why don’t you lay back down on the bed...”
“Nancy! Chickens lay. People lie.”
I laaughed outloud. My mother was an English teacher to the very end. She had a gret sense of humor and I’ll never forget her.
The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: I’ve had many. Some I’d like to forget. But one I’ll share had to do with a clothing malfuction. In high school I was active in a lot of theater productions and I was tapped to be included as a dancer in a road show that appeared at a local theater. I didn’t know much about dancing, but the director was looking to fill out his dance team with a couple of local kids. The only qualifications I had was that I was tall, slim, and had a long ponytail, which evidentally was the look he needed to round out his dance troupe.
The incident, my most embarrassing moment in my then 15 years, happened on stage. I split my pants during a dance number. I was mortified, and being that the performance was before a sell out crowd and on a circle stage, or theater-in-the-round, there was nothing I could do about it. I remember finishing the number and waiting—my face as red as the red underpants I had worn that day—until it was appropriate to exit the stage.
The coolest person you’ve ever met: Brad Pitt. I was sittingin a doctor’s office when he walked in. He was wearing a baseball hat and dark glasses and carrying a book. I wish I could report it was one of my books, but it wasn’t. All the same, he smiled and sat down, and I was in awe. He’s nicer looking in person than on the big screen and if his aura that day was any indication of who is, he’s a really nice guy.
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I like to sketch and garden. And when I’m between books I usually do a little of each. I think they help to organize my thought.
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: My garden. Much as I enjoy it, I’ve made mistake and had to pull things out that never seemed to grow and start again. But then, that’s the fun in gardening. You can always start again.
About Nancy:
Nancy Cole Silverman spent nearly twenty-five years in news and talk radio, beginning her career in college on the talent side as one of the first female voices on the air. Later, on the business side in Los Angeles, she retired as one of two female general managers in the nation's second-largest radio market. After a successful career in the radio industry, Silverman picked up her pen to write fiction, her short stories, and crime-focused novels--the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries are based in Los Angeles, while her newest series, that Kat Lawson Mysteries, takes a more international approach. Kat Lawson, a former investigative reporter has lost her job due an office romance gone terribly wrong. Her boss they promoted. Her they fired. And now, Kat finds herself working undercover for the FBI as a feature writer for a travel publication. Expect lots of international intrigue, vivid descriptions of small European villages, great food, lost archives, and non-stop action. Silverman lives in Los Angeles with her husband and thoroughly pampered standard poodle.
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Website: Nancy Cole Silverman
