You got an early start on writing, interning for the Salisbury Post at age 17. What did you learn from that experience? Everybody’s stories are interesting. Taking those real little slice-of-life things that happen to all of us, whether they’re funny or sad, it adds so much dimension to a book. I think I learned so much of that from being a reporter and interviewing people and from getting these stories that made me realize that we do all have an important story to tell.
A FAMILY-OWNED TRADITION OF HOME-COOKED, NORTHERN ITALIAN
CHEF PAOLO
CUISINE – OVER 40 YEARS IN THE MAKING.
Let’s talk about your college career. You are a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of UNC–Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism. What was your college experience like? I loved every day. I would go back in a heartbeat. I made the best friends and had the most fun, but also had such incredible professors who taught me so much. I’m happy to go back there now and still see some of those same people and tell them how important they were in my life. I don’t think, when you’re going through it as a kid, you fully appreciate that.
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Your new book is “Feels Like Falling.” It’s the stor y of two ver y different women, Gray and Diana, who forge an unlikely friendship. What was your process like? Did you start with the characters or a plot or a setting in mind— or all three? For me, it usually starts with characters. The first scene I wrote in “Feels Like Falling” is the scene where Gray inadvertently gets Diana fired. I can’t explain it, and I hope it never stops, but things like this just sort of pop into my head. I don’t know who these people are, I don’t know their stories or what the story is going to be about. It starts with a little sliver of an idea and I work from there. I do not write in chronological order; it’s just the story as it comes. It’s the oddest thing. I really wanted to write a story of female friendship. Other books have had that in some way, shape or form, but by and large, they’re Southern family dramas. This is ultimately a story of two women from very different worlds coming together and forming a very real friendship.
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