Interview with Author P. C. Zick

What is your current book and tell us a little about it?

Live from the Road –Live from the Road takes the reader on an often humorous, yet harrowing, journey as Meg Newton and Sally Sutton seek a change in the mundane routine of their lives. “Is this all there is?” Sally asks Meg after visiting a dying friend in the hospital. That’s when Meg suggests they take a journey to discover the answer.

How did you come up with the title?

I wanted to pay tribute to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road since the novel takes the main characters on a road trip down Route 66. I also wanted to express the travel aspect of it and what happens to the women who take the journey. They all come alive as the trip progresses.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

There’s always time to change your life if you choose. Communicating our deepest feelings to our loved ones is the best way to ensure close relationships.

Are the experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

I did take a trip with a friend in 2007. When our grown daughters found out we were planning the trip, they asked to come along. We welcomed them and along the way we had some hilarious experiences that gave me seeds to start writing this fictional account of a life-changing journey.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

This book wrote itself. I woke every morning before my day job and wrote in a trance-like state even before downing a cup of coffee. Characters kept coming to me. I wrote it for fun. Then I put it away for a few years when my life took some major u-turns.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I have always written and always received praise for my writing. It was a natural progression for me from teaching writing to making a living as a writer.

Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

I have many favorite authors. I do enjoy and respect Barbara Kingsolver very much. She writes on a variety of topics but always uses nature in some poignant way in her plots. I look forward to reading her newest novel that was just released this week.

What inspired you to write your first book?

I had this novel sitting in a file cabinet drawer for a decade in various stages. Every summer when on hiatus from teaching, I’d pull it out and play around with chapters. Then when I decided I wanted to change careers, I decided to finish the darn thing and get it published which I did. That was twelve years ago.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Some people have mentioned the ending so I’ve thought about whether I’d change it or not. But those who said I didn’t give them enough or those who thought I ended it the way I did so I could write a sequel, missed the point. So maybe I needed to make the point stronger.

You can find P.C.’s book, Live from the Road  at Amazon.