A NIGHT WITH MATTHEW THOMAS

Met with Matthew Thomas at the Marymount Manhattan Book Club. I was particularly interested in attending the event for a number of reasons. I wanted to ask Thomas a million questions about his book. How much research went into his book. Did he have an outside editor. How did he figure out the structure of his book. As he told it to us, research was prime. Reading his book, WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, it was obvious he was well read on the subject of the dreaded disease, Alzheimer. We discovered his father was an Alzheimer victim. And I do mean victim. He said he thought of writing this book as a memoir, but decided better to go with fiction. I'm glad he did. It's a powerful book with reality lurking in the pages.

I asked if he edited his own book. He said he edited his own book, with his wife's input. He wrote his book the old fashioned way, ink and paper. It worked for him. He sent out his manuscript to a number of "top" agents. He said he waited ten years before he felt it ready to send out. But when he sent it out, it was gobbled up by the  right agent and was published.

What I was most interested in was how long it took him to figure out the structure of his book. His book begins in chronological order. Okay, you guessed it. My book begins in chronological order. I have lots of backstory. Now, I feel, maybe, just maybe I'm going in the right direction.

I'm editing my book as I go along. Then my husband, Bob. comments.

We shared a great night with Matthew Thomas who is now a famous author.
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