Leslie A. Rasmussen

Leslie A. Rasmussen was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated with a bachelor’s in communications from UCLA and went on to write television comedies for Gerald McRaney, Burt Reynolds, Roseanne Barr, Norm McDonald, Drew Carey, and Ralph Macchio, as well as The Wild Thornberrys and Sweet Valley High. Later, she earned a master’s degree in nutrition and ran her own business for ten years. Most recently, Leslie has written personal essays for online magazines such as Huffington Post, Maria Shriver, and SheKnows. She loves dogs and besides having two adorable Labradors, she volunteers at the Burbank Animal Shelter in Burbank, California. Leslie lives in Los Angeles and has two sons, and a husband she’s been with since college. This is her debut novel. She lives in Los Angeles.

Twitter: @LeslieRAuthor

Instagram: @LeslieRAuthor

What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?

Years ago, when I was working in television sitcoms, you had to write spec scripts for various shows that were on the air as a calling card to get your next job. I wrote a script for a popular show at the time and sent it to my agent. My first agent got too big to handle a new writer, so he passed me on to what was affectionately called a baby agent. This baby agent thought he knew everything and told me he loved my script, but he wanted to give me notes. As a new writer, you always say yes to notes, even if you don’t agree with them. But his note was crazy. He wanted me to change my script so the lead, who was played by a famous actor, had a much smaller part in his own show, and the character that I created to be an adversary in this one episode should have more lines and scenes than the lead. I was flattered that he liked the character I created that much, but I wasn’t going to take his note. I knew that any producer he sent my script to, would have rejected it because it would have had some minor character be more important than the lead. My agent wasn’t happy that I wouldn’t take his note, so needless to say, a month later I got a new agent.

Favorite non-reading activity?

When I’m not reading, my favorite thing to do is spend time with friends and family. Since the pandemic, it has been extremely limited, so when I do get to see people in the flesh, and not on a zoom or facetime screen, it feels like a gift. I have a wonderful circle of girlfriends that know me better than anyone, other than my husband. We have shared so much of our lives together. We’ve worried about our kids together, we’ve cried over losing parents together, and we’ve laughed a whole lot. Meeting a friend for lunch is by far my favorite non-reading activity.

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

I think the better question, is when have I not experienced imposter syndrome. When I first started out writing, I wrote television sitcoms. From the moment I got my first script, I was sure someone would figure out that I wasn’t a real writer. That somehow, I slipped through the cracks and no one noticed that I was writing a script that would end up being a produced show. Then every time I wrote a script after that, I thought someone would tell me to find a new career. When people asked me what I did, I thought if I said I was a writer they would laugh and say everyone thinks they’re a writer. When I found out my debut novel was going to be published, my friends, family and even my Facebook friends that I barely knew were impressed. The only person who wasn’t impressed, was me. How can you be impressed if you aren’t a real writer? No matter how many good reviews I get or how many books I sell, I will still wonder how I got so lucky as to get into this club.

Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?

I’ve always been a person who likes to finish what she starts, whether that’s organizing my closet or reading a book. When I was in high school and we were assigned a book, most of my friends read the Spark Notes, but I couldn’t do that. I always read the book from beginning to end. As I got older and my time became limited between writing and taking care of my kids, I rarely had enough time to read anymore, so the books I picked were always ones from my favorite authors. That way I figured they wouldn’t disappoint.  Now that my kids are young adults and I have a little more time, I will sometimes find a book I might not normally pick up. If it doesn’t grab my attention by the first fifty pages, I will usually put it down for a little while, then come back to it and try again. There have been very few books I didn’t come back to eventually or did come back to and couldn’t finish. There are too many other things I’d rather do, than read a book that I’m not enjoying. Although that all goes out the window if my book club picks the book. I will always finish those books because I want to be part of the discussion.

Is there another profession you would like to try?

If I weren’t a writer, I would’ve liked being a marriage and family therapist. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with the human psyche and why people do the things they do. And since I was in middle school, I’ve been the person that other people in my life come to with their problems. My friends have always called me day or night to give them a healthy perspective on what they’re going through. Of course, my own problems aren’t as easy to solve. Listening to other people and helping them figure out what to do has been something I’m good at. My mother was a therapist for many years, so maybe it’s in the family. I took lots of psychology and sociology classes in college, and not just because they were easy for me, but I can’t say that hurt either. At one time I was going to write a nonfiction book about women and their relationships with men, but instead I wrote a novel with the same themes.