Interview with Adam Chester, author of "S'mother"

And you think your mom is too involved? Meet the mother of all mothers.

Adam Chester is the son of a very loving mom, who for almost 30 years has peppered his life with unsolicited advice, news updates, and opinions in the form of thousands of inappropriate, embarrassing, and utterly crazy letters. S'Mother is a hilarious memoir based on this correspondence showing the pathological extremes maternal instincts can take. Why is a grown woman so frantic that her adult son screw on his windows to keep out killer bees? And are adult trick-or-treaters really that much of a threat? Adam saved his mom's letters as proof this all happened and reproduces many of them in the book. And now, with time, perspective, and plenty of therapy, he acknowledges and accepts the comedy of it all and is proud to share his story with you, if for no other reason than to make you feel better about your own mother.

You can see an interview with Adam on George Lopez's talk show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCfcIPJ-kwM

And here is a link to Adam's blog: www.smotherboard.com  

I am thrilled to have Adam as a guest on the blog today to talk about his writing process, his book, and of course, his mother!

What would you like readers to know about you as an introduction?

I’d like everyone to know that I’m normal. That I don’t hate my mother, my mother doesn’t hate me, nor is she mad at me for writing this book. In fact, on the contrary, she’s THRILLED about me writing it. Why? Because NOW, she gets to spend even MORE time with me for all the interviews we do.

Tell us about S’Mother. What was your inspiration/motivation behind this book?

Therapy. I had been keeping this ever-expanding collection of letters from my mother to myself for years. Since 1981, to be exact. I kept looking at it, and looking at it, and wondering why I was keeping it, other than the fact that it served as evidence that all of this happened. It was my wife who suggested I start a blog and see if there was any other person in the world who might be able to relate. I named the blog after one of my mother’s letters to me…"Please don’t eat sushi! Love, Mom." Then a TV deal came. Then the book deal happened.

What have you learned through writing this book?

That I’m certainly NOT alone, and that no matter how quirky and crazy my mother is, there are other mothers out there just as kooky. It’s all in how you DEAL with that kookiness that can make your life very sad, or highly entertaining.

How did you get started writing?

Well, for me, since this book was based on over 1,000 of my mother’s letters, my first step was to put all the letters in chronological order. Then, pick the funniest of the lot. After that, I read through them and made notes of where I was and what was going on at the time of each letter to provide some depth. I didn’t want a coffee table book of nothing more than her letters. I felt in order to keep it real and organic, I had to insert my perspective and find a common thread to make it flow to readers who don’t know me ... from Adam.

What is your writing process like? Do you write on a computer? In a spiral notebook? Do you write at the same time every day? 

Well, being somewhat OCD, I was at the computer, same time, every day. But I didn’t let that need for order prevent me from scribbling ideas down at any time, any place they came to me. I think the ending of the book came to me while I was driving to work one day on the 405 freeway.

How do you get ideas for what you write? 

I get ideas by talking to myself until I listen.

What is your biggest advice for other writers?

Don’t try to write. Just write. The only thing that can be an effort, is editing.

What are some of your favorite books?

Well, the books that come to mind right now are Pet Semetary by Stephen King, anything by Paul Zindel and Woody Allen, A Gift Of Laughter by Allan Sherman, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, A Spaniard in the Works by John Lennon and Chaos by James Gleick.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I’m currently writing the pilot for a tv show with a good friend of mine which is loosely based on S’Mother. I’m also thrilled to be writing the music for S’Mother the Musical, that I hope to make happen very soon! My mother is very proud of me.

Part II: Interview with Randy Robertson

Randy Robertson is the author of Finding Mary: One Family's Journey on the Road to Autism Recovery. He was kind enough to stop by the blog to share more about the book, as well as his words of advice and encouragement for other writers! Read Part I of the interview here.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process?

My writing process goes back to my journalism training in that I write in a really structured manner. For Finding Mary I wrote a high-level outline first, basically writing what would become the chapter heads. This enabled me to see how the book would flow. I typed this directly into a Microsoft Word file on my computer. I then went through the outline and for each chapter head, I added anywhere from 2 to 6 sub-heads with more detailed information about what to include in that chapter. Finally, I left the chapter head and sub-heads for each chapter and started writing the contents of the book right into the outline. It grew from a 2-page chapter head list into a 200-page book over the course of a year!

I really don’t write much on paper or in notebooks. I’m so used to using the computer at work that I’m very comfortable writing outlines and jotting notes in Word files. One trick that helped me tremendously was to write myself a note each time I was done for the day. As I said, I only wrote on Tuesday nights, so when the juices were flowing and the words were streaming easily I often wrote well into the middle of the night. When I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, I would write a few sentences to myself describing what the next few paragraphs would be about and what topics were next on my mind to discuss. Then I would shut down the computer and go to bed. The following Tuesday, instead of having to scroll through a dozen or more pages to get back up to speed on where I was at in the book, I could just read the last paragraph or two and the note to myself and pick right back up with my train of thought. It took me a few weeks to get into that habit but I found once I did it, I was able to get back into writing mode much more quickly and avoid writer’s block and keep the narrative going.

What's next for you?

Since competing Finding Mary, I also wrote a fiction book called The Sports Locker about some kids that time travel back to see famous sports events. The book hasn’t been published yet as I’ve been focusing on promoting Finding Mary for the past year. The idea for The Sports Locker came from watching my oldest son Charlie attend sports camps and seeing the camaraderie amongst the boys at the camp. I’ve also written quite a few poems and short stories. The writing subjects are almost always about my immediate family and the myriad of activities we experience together day after day. I do keep a notebook by my bed to write down ideas that come to me in the middle of the night. I heard many authors say they do this, so I started doing it too, and every so often I’ll flip through the notebook and see if one of my ideas sparks an interest to hunker down and develop the story.

Do you have any advice for other writers, especially young writers?

My biggest advice to young writers is to keep moving forward little steps at a time. You can’t expect to realistically sit down and in a few days write the next Harry Potter. It’s not like that. Writing takes time, but it’s a fun and rewarding time! It’s like when I ran my first marathon in 2000. At first I could barely run 3 miles, but I kept to a strict running schedule and gradually improved my speed and added distance to my runs. Six months later I crossed the finish line successfully. Writing should likewise be accomplished in a progression. Writing short stories and poems is a wonderful way to develop skills and techniques. You can write a short story and work on a particular technique, such as describing a character’s physical description, explaining the sounds and textures in a particular setting, or learning to incorporate appropriate metaphors. Once you have some of those basic skills mastered you should think about writing a book. Start with an outline, then sub-heads…

What are some of your favorite books?

For almost my whole life I’ve heard people talk about what a great book the Bible is, but I never really considered reading the whole thing. I mean, it’s thicker than a phone book! Also, I thought it was a cliché, that someone who said the Bible is the best book is just saying that to sound good. Then three years ago I decided to read the Bible from cover to cover. I made it a New Year’s resolution and just started on it. I determined that my goal each day would be to read enough to turn the page once. That’s it…just to turn the page once daily. I stuck with it and it took me almost two full years, but I read the entire Bible! And it turns out that the book is actually amazing! There are stories of heroism, power, great battles, geography, history of course, tremendous character development, well-known quotations and many inspirational tales. You don’t need to be Catholic or any specific religious affiliation to thoroughly enjoy the Bible. My other favorites include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Pelican Brief (talk about a page-turner!), and The Da Vinci Code. I also loved The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, a book that truly encourages big ideas and the concept that anyone can accomplish anything if they are determined and focused.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be a guest on the blog! Do you have any final words you'd like to add?

I am really amazed and pleased with how well Finding Mary was received. I continue to get positive feedback from people. Recently a special education teacher in Illinois read the book and liked it so much she bought copies for the parents of each of her students! And a few weeks ago I was playing golf in a tournament and one of the people in our foursome commented how much he liked the book. I had never even met the guy before, but he knew about me and Mary and my book and had read it. Knowing that I’ve helped people understand what autism is like on a daily basis, and helped share some success secrets with people going through the challenges of autism in their own homes, has been incredibly rewarding and amazing to me.

Links:

• Learn more about Finding Mary at Randy's website http://www.findingmarybook.com/ 
• Order Finding Mary on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Mary-Familys-Journey-Recovery/dp/1450223028