Michele Kwasniewski
After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a BA in Technical Theater, Michele Kwasniewski spent over fifteen years in film and television production. Starting out as a film set assistant on movies such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, FACE/OFF, PRIMAL FEAR, and EVITA, she worked her way up to production manager on TV shows including BIG BROTHER. She is also a proud member of the Producers Guild of America. Michele’s colorful experiences in the industry inspired her to write THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series. Michele lives in San Clemente, California with her husband, their son, and their disobedient dachshund. RISING STAR is her first young adult novel.
Twitter: @michelekwas
Instagram: @michelekwas and @rising_star_book
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
It took years to consider myself a writer, and not just someone who writes occasionally. I felt that since I hadn’t finished my book, and I didn’t write consistently, I couldn’t in good faith call myself a writer. But eventually I realized that anyone who uses words to describe, inform, record an event or tell a story is a writer.
I finally considered myself an author after I finished my first book. It wasn’t so much the act of finishing the book that made me an author. It was my realization that my story and characters wouldn’t have come into being without me. I took ownership of the story and characters I was creating (as much as anyone can really take ownership of characters because I swear mine have a mind of their own sometimes). But by committing myself to building the world my characters live in and putting in the hours to finish the story – that is when I became an author. Plus, I bought a t-shirt that says it.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing?
I have several other artistic outlets that I enjoy when I’m not writing. I sing in a local choir which is something I love. I’m a first soprano so I love hitting those high notes. We normally have two concerts a year, but with the pandemic they’re on hold. I knit occasionally (I have a blanket that I’ve been meaning to finish for months for my son). I love adult coloring books, my favorite one based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe. I can’t draw that well, so this ticks that box. I also started playing guitar with my son, which is a lot of fun.
Do you collect anything? If so, what and for how long?
I love to decorate for the holidays. And by holidays, I mean literally any holiday, so I guess I collect decorations. My mom was a big year-round decorator and I missed it when I moved out to go to college. She decorated for every holiday you could think of. I’m lucky that my husband is on board, because our decorations take up quite a lot of space in our garage. At Halloween we’re that house on the block that turns the front lawn into a grave yard and we light our house with purple lights. I love to decorate because I enjoy breaking up my daily routine. Celebrating special events or holidays gives me the chance to do that.
When you start reading a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
When I was younger, I felt obligated to read a book until the end. What if the book got better? The author had worked so hard to read it, shouldn’t I be nice and just finish it? Now that I’m older, I’m over it. Page 80 is the most I will give a book before I bail. I’ve bailed around page twenty if I really don’t gel with the voice or story, but I do try to give a book a fair shake before I stop reading. I have realized that books are like people and not everyone is going to like each other. There are too many good books in the world to read a book you don’t like.
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
I can’t listen to music when I write because I will usually start singing along. I love to sing and I can’t sing and write at the same time. I love many kinds of music and a good song/album can change my day or get me to start thinking about things. Pink Floyd, Greta Van Fleet, Blues Traveler, Prince, Cold Play, Scissor Sisters, George Michael – these are the bands I listen to if I need to think. I love pop music – how it changes, defines eras and seasons and can get you moving. Classical and jazz are great thinking genres, that kind of thinking where you’re not even using words, just feeling the feels. Music is very big in my life and trying to write about someone singing was a very big challenge for me. To write how a sing sounds, how it can affect you was difficult and I hope I was able to do that experience justice.
