Interview with write Susan Merson

Today’s special guest is writer Susan Merson to chat about her new women’s literary fiction, Oh Good Now This.

During her virtual book tour, Susan will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Susan Merson began her career as an actress on and off Broadway, in television and film. Co-founding the LA Writers Bloc in 1985 with award winning writer Jane Anderson, she has mentored writers through the Bloc and through her private and university classes in Playwriting, Life Stories, Writing as a Spiritual Practice, Tarot for Writers and the popular VOICING Series. Her short fiction has been featured in The Jew in America, Nice Jewish Girls (Penguin), The Worcester Review, the Chicken Soup series and several other online platforms. As a playwright, her award-winning plays have been performed internationally, including her 8 solo plays featured and used as example in YOUT NAME HERE: An Actor Writers Guide to Solo Performance. (Amazon). Long form fiction available on Amazon is her award-winning blog, WHEN THEY GO AND YOU DO NOT and her first novel Dreaming in Daylight. Oh Good Now This, is her newest novel. She is a tarot reader and counselor, a maker of quilts, clothing, and whimsy. Susan is a humble mother and a proud resident of New York City.

Welcome, Susan. Please tell us about your current release.
Oh Good Now This is about a woman making a new life among the ghosts of her past. She’s moved from California to the East coast to start again, plant a new garden, find a new lover. Vivi does what she needs to pay the rent but the ghosts of her past—her dead husband, her mother, children from past lives- haunt her. In the end coming to terms with past, present and future is what opens the door to next steps.

What inspired you to write this book?
It’s been in the works for a while. I’ve found that things end before we’re ready, and I’m always interested in how we start again and keep reinventing ourselves. And looking out over the landscape, it just gets richer. I mean, you figure out that the trick is to stay right here in this moment, even though memories and love affairs and disasters want to keep your attention—like kids in a tantrum. So, as with kids in a tantrum, you have to put these distractions in TIMEOUT to calm them down. And then, once they have had a chance to be acknowledged, they sort themselves out.

 

Excerpt from Oh Good Now This:
“Nobody has a clue what’s going to happen,” he says, “Despite the best efforts of tarot readers and spirit animals. Or spirits from other dimensions or rule makers or breakers. Nobody really knows how they can live with what happens—with what they think they create or what is created for them. But here, creating a frame for the acknowledgement of steps, of stones, of maybes and ‘yesses”.. and lots of ‘oh my god, no’s’, you receive that experience, too. It will float up from the earth before you and whether you want to or not, you become the custodian of other people’s stories. Just sitting right here at your desk, looking at the view and thinking about lunch. And because you can make beauty.”

Vivi smiles. “My husband who died, Jake. He used to say that. He used to tell me I had to safeguard his story for him so he could figure out what he was living, who he was in reflection, I guess.”

“How’d you do?” asks Charlie, smiling.

“Not so great. I just loved him when I could and kept holding a vision of him I thought he’d be proud of.”

“And,” asks Charlie gently.

“He followed me around for a while. I mean if you believe in that kind of thing. And then he kind of lost interest, I guess, and we both got on with the rest of our ..lives.. jobs.. tasks.. Who knows? No easy wrap up, there.”

 

What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m almost done with third draft of my next novel which will tries to make sense of the last four years. Political upheaval, personal loss and then– the enormous quiet of the pandemic,

Annie Simon, is a writing teacher and a mother with an estranged son. To distract herself and to “do the right thing” she volunteers for the Hillary campaign in Michigan and discovers the frustration and impotence of her home state, and how that plays out in her own life and the life of the country. Things can sometimes be brought home to heal, but sometimes there is no healing, only radical acceptance.

It’s challenging— but I am really moved by how the external world we live in reflects back on our everyday struggles.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I think I’ve always told stories. I remember being chosen for Creative Writing class when I was in elementary school and thought, ‘yep, that’s me.” The identity has morphed a bit over the years. I wrote and taught Playwriting for years, but feel at home now, writing fiction.

Do you write full time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’m lucky that I support myself through teaching and other pursuits as well.

I am a member of the NY Writers Bloc, and the LA Writers Bloc –which I helped found with my friend writer, Jane Anderson—and aside from our weekly meetings to share work, I have writing dates with friends on Zoom. This really helps with accountability and keeping me on track with a project. It’s great to have an ongoing community of supportive artists. We know each other, understand the same dictionary of terms when helping to shape each other’s work.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Well, I’m also a Tarot reader and so when I get stuck, I pull a card or two and it gets me going. The cards are great for landscape, character and even plotting a story. I teach this class to other writers, too.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Oh, I remember being featured on the front page of the Detroit News when I was in third grade in a story that claimed that I aspired to being an airline stewardess so that I could travel the world! Though that didn’t actually come true, I have traveled a lot in my life –in person and through the characters I’ve played as an actress, written as a playwright, and brought to life as a novelist. And I’m not sure I’m actually fully grown up yet!

Anything else to share with the readers?
I guess I just want to say that I believe deeply in the power of stories. The ones we write and the ones we live. In knowing someone’s story, you acknowledge them as a person on the planet. So, I urge everyone to write their story, listen to others, create new ones. It helps to find ourselves and each other in space, so we can hold on with love and hope.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Apple | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Thanks for being here today!

Susan has also done a series of five videos regarding the use of Tarot for writers (for more information, visit her website):

1: Author/ teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/ Amazon) explores Tarot to jump start your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS #1: INTRODUCTION

An introduction to using your own intuitive powers to tap into the resonance of Tarot images, packed with archetypes and symbols, to jumpstart inspiration for your artistic projects.

**CORRECTION: The Raziel Tarot Deck is designed by artist Robert Place with commentary by Rachel Pollack. https://youtu.be/LGONsfOayJg

2: Author/teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/Amazon), explores TAROT cards to jumpstart your writing, TAROT FOR WRITERS #2: LANDSCAPE

Explore the landscape of story. Entering the world of the card offers visceral clues to the landscape of your writing. https://youtu.be/Mwq9x-I9oQE

3: Author/ teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/ Amazon) explores TAROT cards to jump start your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS #3: CHARACTER.

A brief exploration of character and how to find their first basic journey. Look deeply at the character clues in the cards and throw three cards to begin their adventure. https://youtu.be/CuovTNQ5ztk

4: Author/teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/AMAZON) explores TAROT cards to jump start your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS #4: WHAT STORY SHOULD I WRITE TODAY

On pulling cards to intuitively discover the story, the genre, the themes and the major turning points of a new story. https://youtu.be/eHm0mVSNaPo

5: Author/teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/AMAZON) explores TAROT to jumpstart your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS/ #5 TIMELINES AND DEEPER DIVE INTO RELATIONSHIPS

Timelines and going deeper into relationships with pro and antagonists. The more cards you draw the more information you can gather. https://youtu.be/EClPq0e-H70