Tell us about yourself.
As a child, I always carried a book wherever I went and started writing my own illustrated adventures. Ever since I took journalism back in high school, I am one with notebook and pen in hand, ready to record, thinking I will use an overheard dialogue, or description of a character, in a piece of writing.
After getting my master's degree in applied linguistics at Georgetown University, I lived for 5 years in Manhattan, teaching English at intensive language institutes at Colombia, NYU, Baruch College and others. I moved to Athens Greece in 1983 and taught at the American College of Greece for 35 years. I married, had two children, and started writing and publishing articles in various Greek publications. For the past 6 years, I've been publishing a monthly travel blog (olives and islands) mostly on Greece
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Bethesda Maryland, outside Washington DC. I don't think it particularly influenced my writing, only that it cemented my resolve to go and live in the city, away from the suburbs. My 5 years living in New York City on the other hand inspired my writing a great deal in essays and short stories, which I published in Step Lively: New York City Tales of Love and Change.
What was your journey to getting published like?
In NYC, I took several writing classes and read my poetry at times at open mikes at bookstores and had a poem selected to be in the Little Magazine. Busy with work and family, I didn't write for many years but after another writing class in Athens, I sent an article to Odyssey Magazine and it was accepted. That gave me a boost and I continued publishing articles and poetry in various magazines. I got another boost when I published a story in the Athens News and it won first prize in their writing contest. After my retirement from teaching in 2018, I self-published three books: a collection of poetry and two memoirs.
What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received?
for my poetry book
":It's a work of profound imagination, of past and present freely intermingling, and ranges in its references from Camus to Kerouac to Kitt, from images of grandparents younger and children older to Manhattan street corners in mental snapshots. This author speaks to me like few others."
for my NYC memoir:
"The author does a wonderful job describing the life of a young and curious person in NYC: visiting independent bookstores, eating at delis and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, going to smoky jazz bars, daytime movies at MOMA and bike-riding along the East River."
for my teaching memoir:
"This book is REMARKABLE! Sherri Moshman-Paganos brings her high school, middle school and university students to life so vividly, unsentimentally but empathically, in this tremendously detailed account of her teaching values, methods and experiences."
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Believe in yourself and that you have something to say that's different from anyone else. There might be a finite number of themes, but there are infinite ways of dealing with them. Develop your unique voice that's like no one else.
What’s a fun fact about you that your readers might not know?
I lived for 6 months in Medellin Colombia on a study abroad. The university there was often on strike so I used the time to travel around and experience the beauty of the country.
What’s your guilty pleasure book or genre?
I love reading cookbooks. Not that I'll necessarily make the recipes but I like to see the particular philosophy that goes into one's cooking style.
What’s your favorite quote about writing?
I like Chekhov's quote about the importance of using sense details in memoir as well as fiction and "show not tell" — "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."
When you’re not writing, how do you like to spend your time?
I play the piano. I've been fortunate to have a piano most of my life. I like to try out new recipes (thus reading cookbooks), I'm an avid walker and of course reader of both fiction and nonfiction, and then poetry. I love to travel and I blog on travel experiences with lots of photos to go with my text.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
One of the earliest stories I read on my own was the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which my brother had given to me as a present. It had the original color illustrations from the 1900 edition.The story fired my imagination and, along with the wonderful pictures..I think I read it every year for many years.
What has inspired you and your writing style? How did you choose the NonFiction genre?
Place /setting have inspired me very much, as noted above about NYC and to a lesser degree Athens. Generally, the past inspires me.
In terms of writing style, I have been influenced by Chekhov (see quote I've chosen) in terms of sense details in my writing particularly my poetry. In my genre of memoir, I'm really interested in the role that imagination plays in memory. As Mark Twain said, "When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. But soon I shall be so I cannot remember anything but the things that never happened."
And I've been very influenced by my students over the years. As concerns my latest book, Miss I wish you a bed of roses: Teaching Secondary School English in Greece, I kept teaching notebooks and student papers for years, always in the back of my mind that I would use them some day.
How do you deal with negative reviews?
No one likes negative reviews of course but it helps to be philosophical about it, that it's impossible for everyone to like your book. Sometimes you can learn from negative reviews about what to look out for in the next book.
How do you connect with your readers?
With "Miss I wish you a bed of roses," I have connected with readers by a couple of book signings in the area, one with colleagues at my school and another at an Athens bookstore. Besides the book signings, I have also done some interviews on book sites, as well as kindle countdown deals.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I'm putting together another book of poetry and am writing some creative nonfiction pieces about my life in Athens.
Are there any Easter eggs or hidden messages in your work?
I don't think so!
How do you approach writing dialogue for your characters?
Dialogue is tricky. It has to sound real. So I read it over and over aloud to hear the rhythms of speech to see if it's realistic.
If you could share one thing with your fans, what would that be?
Don't give up. You have a unique voice and your story /your knowledge is worth sharing with others.
Sherri Moshman-Paganos’s Author Websites and Profiles
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
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