Welcome to TRB Lounge. Today, I’d like to welcome the author of Sleeping With Cancer, Phillip Riley, from Atmosphere Press, for an author interview with The Reading Bud.
About The Author
Phillip Riley was born in Seattle, Washington but whose adult journeys took him to New York City, Boston, Vermont, California, and for the last several decades, Hawaii. His half a dozen colleges include the Cornish Institute for the Arts in Seattle, Washington and the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. He has a Bachelors in Fine Arts and a Master’s in Education. He continues to paint, teach, and write in Hawaii.
You can connect with author Riley here:
Author Website
Interview
Welcome to TRB! Please give our readers a brief introduction about yourself before we begin.
Briefly I have roved the United States as a fine artist before finding myself in Hawaii sleeping on the beach after a divorce 23 years ago. I remarried and mostly wrote poetry and children’s stories, as well as other short stories in both first and third person. I remarried and followed my wife around the world on adventures. I became a special education teacher during this time using the arts as a way to address what educators call core content.
Please tell us something about your book other than what we have read in the blurb?
Sleeping With Cancer developed without an outline. I modeled the main character after a lady I met in Boston. As I continued the narrative, my thoughts as a caregiver in real life with a wife fighting an advanced stage of cancer began seeping into the story. In a role reversal I wrote my thoughts from the first person of the lady with a boyfriend with cancer.
What is that one message that you’re trying to get across to the readers in this book?
If there is one message, it might be that there are examples of courage all around us that go unseen and without drama, especially with those surviving with cancer.
Who is your favourite character in this book and why?
My favorite character is the lead character, Emily. It is her thoughts that resound through most of the book. She is THE character, with grit, sarcasm, heart, and I would have to say love.
What inspired you to write this book? An idea, some anecdote, a dream or something else?
An incident began when my wife and her mom went to Las Vegas and she called so exultant about winning a jackpot of $6000.00. I began to think, you can win a jackpot, but you still have cancer.
How long did it take you to write this particular book?
I think this book began about four years ago.
What are your writing ambitions? Where do you see yourself 5 years from today?
I write in different venues. I would like to publish several more books of short stories as well as novelettes and another book. I like to think my writing will be a contribution to my fellow human beings.
Are you working on any other stories presently?
I am writing another book, but like Sleeping With Cancer, I am not sure where it is going. In general, I prefer the tone to be optimistic.
Why have you chosen this genre? Or do you write in multiple genres?
I have never written in the first person of a woman for a book as in Sleeping with Cancer. I suppose I did so to get my thoughts out without naming my wife. I do write in multiple genres. For example, I have a number of short stories whose characters are insects, crabs, and squirrels.
When did you decide to become a writer? Was it easy for you follow your passion or did you have to make some sacrifices along the way?
I think the person who inspired me long ago was a teacher at Massachusetts College of Art named Lila Chalpin. In my twisted journey through New York City, Boston, and elsewhere living on the edges of poverty attempting to be an artist, writing has been my refuge for reflection. Traumas and experiments in living bring a lot of fodder to the mind.
What is your writing ritual? How do you do it?
I like to write in the morning beginning at Starbucks and later at home. I bring a notebook everywhere to write impressions, such as when I occasionally teach. I go to a writers’ group once a week to share what I am doing.
How do you prefer to write – computer/laptop, typewriter, dictation or longhand with a pen?
I prefer old school writing first draft by hand in a notebook. Section by section is then put onto my computer, which functions for me in the editing process and where the writing is made more readable and legible.
What are your 5 favourite books? (You can share 5 favourite authors too.)
- Anne Sexton, Transformations
- Erica Jong, Half-lives
- Barbara W. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror
- Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna
- Lately… Diana Gabaldon’s books, such as Dragonfly in Amber
How do you deal with Writer’s Block?
I just write nonsense. I call it my blah blah time.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
I think I might say to be careful who your teachers are and to not think too much about the outcome. As a special education teacher I am aware of different learning styles and that it is sometimes important to give oneself room to go your own way.
Thank you, author Riley, for your insightful answers!
About the Book
Sleeping With Cancer
What is the meaning of life when you can see the end in the one you love?
Emily’s life changes after she witnesses two men kill each other in her apartment leaving a duffle bag with 1.2 million dollars. With money no longer an obstacle and drifting through a dreamy state of trauma where spirits often appear, she eventually falls in love with a new man. When he is later diagnosed with cancer, they embark on parallel journeys with an urgency and impatience to absorb the world.
In Sleeping with Cancer by Phillip Riley, Emily’s thoughts on the arbitrariness of life accompany her new love who is engaged in each moment with an appreciation she can only imagine.
You can find Sleeping With Cancer here:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author featured on TRB, then please get in touch directly by e-mail at thereadingbud@gmail.com
The Reading Bud 