By THIRSTY
Carol Weston is the
author of sixteen books, both fiction and non-fiction, and has been the “Dear
Carol” advice columnist at Girls'
Life magazine since it launched in 1994. Her latest novel, Speed of Life, was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “perceptive,
funny and moving.” A summa cum laude
graduate of Yale with an MA in Spanish from Middlebury College, she has also written
for the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Brides, Parents, American Way, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, McCall’s and Redbook.
Stay
Thirsty Magazine was delighted to visit with Carol Weston
at her home in Manhattan for these Five Questions about her newest book.
STAY THIRSTY: In your latest
novel, Speed of Life, you tell the story of a fourteen-year-old
girl that Julia Alvarez called “full of cariño, funny, and heartfelt,
and (spoiler alert) not just for teens” and that the New York Post called
“a sweet, moving tale about grief and growing up.” What motivated you to write
about the loss of a parent by a young teenage girl?
CAROL
WESTON: My dad died when I was 25, and my life split into
Before/After. My mom remarried—twice!—and I celebrated her weddings, but I remember
when her third husband said, “You’re like a daughter to me,” and I knew I
could never reply in kind. Because I’m an advice columnist, I’ve received scores
of letters from girls who reach out shortly after the death of a parent to say,
“I still haven’t gotten over it.” I say: “You’ll never get over it. But you will get through it.”
STAY
THIRSTY: How did your own experience as the “Dear Carol”
columnist for Girls’ Life magazine
color the life and times of your lead character, Sofia?
CAROL
WESTON: Eighth grade is hard even when things are perfect. But
it’s a particularly terrible time to lose your mom. I’ve been “Dear Carol” for
a quarter century, and I have two daughters, so I know what girls think about. Poor
Sofia is mourning, but she’s also trying to figure out how to cope with crushes,
make new friends, deal with puberty, even move. I poured my “Dear Carol”
experience into “Dear Kate,” too. It was fun to write about an advice columnist
who does not have all the answers.
STAY
THIRSTY: In this coming-of-age story, you track Sofia’s
personal and emotional growth over the course of exactly one year. How did you
craft your story so that it would ring true to adolescent girls?
CAROL
WESTON: I’ve always liked thinking about time. How a minute
can disappear—or feel like forever. When my dad died, someone wrote in a
condolence note, “Time doesn’t heal but it helps,” and I found that comforting.
So I liked the idea of each chapter being one month and of taking my characters
on a long journey in a short time. On New Year’s Day at the start of the novel,
Sofia is a mess. She and her dad are taking down their tree—“undecorating”—and
while “Christmas had sucked,” Sofia still doesn’t want it to be over. Sofia’s friends
have been supportive, but hey, her mom died last
year, shouldn’t she have bounced back by now? Answer: No. Sofia has to heal at
her own pace, you can’t rush grief or recharge like a cellphone. By ninth
grade, she is whole again. She still misses her mom—she always will—but she has
found new love in both a boyfriend and future stepmom.
 |
| Carol Weston |
STAY
THIRSTY: You dedicated Speed
of Life to your parents. How has your own journey in dealing with loss influenced
your life and your writing?
CAROL
WESTON: Speed
of Life was not speedy to write—it took ten years from idea
to publication! I changed the point of view from four people, third-person, to
one person, first-person. (I know, right?) But I believe an author’s job is to
write and rewrite until we get it right. As Orwell said, “If it is possible to
cut a word out, always cut it out.” I began by channeling how I felt when my
dad died, but by the time I finished, I’d had to say goodbye to my mom too, so I’d
learned even more about how to get to where memories bring comfort instead of
pain.
STAY
THIRSTY: Of all of the teenage issues that you address in this
book, which two are the most significant on the emotional well-being of teenage
girls?
CAROL
WESTON: To love and be loved—in all ways. Friendship, family, romance.
Most best friends in grade school don’t see eye-to-eye in middle school. This
is as it should be, but… ouch. And middle school parties? They’re a minefield. First
kiss. First beer. Sofia is half-Spanish, and she introduces this novel by
saying, “Warning, this is sort of a sad story. At least at first…” As she tells
it, “Childhood was a piece of cake. Being a kid in New York City and spending
summers in Spain, that was all pretty perfect, looking back. But being fourteen
was like climbing a mountain in the rain…in flip-flops. This book does have
funny parts. And I learned two giant facts. Number one: everything can change
in an instant—for worse, sure, but also for better. Number two: sometimes, if
you just keep climbing, you get an amazing view. You see what’s behind you and what’s
ahead of you, and—the big surprise—what’s inside you.”
(Carol Weston photo credit: Jordan Matter and Maria Traversa)
Link: