Jennifer Louden

Jennifer Louden agreed to be interviewed via e-mail by Nicola Warwick.

Part I

NW: I like the saying, 'you teach best what you most need to learn.' Is this appropriate to you in the way you write? Is the writing an essential part of your own self-development?

JL: You probably could not ask me a more apt question at this time. Yes! I have written four books trying to learn some very essential lessons. I wish I could say I have learned them. I can honestly say I have made progress in being kinder to myself and becoming self-referenced. But I have a long way to go. Currently I am writing to understand why I am stuck in various areas of my life and why I don't want to write self-help books anymore. I find I can't understand myself without writing, so yes, it is the cornerstone of knowing myself.

NW: Last year I published a charity book called life's little luxuries (a compilation of 'little luxuries' of celebrities). What would your 'little luxury' be? A 'little luxury' is defined as "inexpensive, (fairly) accessible to the masses and, in some way, life enhancing."

JL: My little luxuries are buying a book of great fiction (in paperback), soap (current favorite milk chocolate soap by Fresh Inc.), cotton sweatshirts (no polyester need apply), a long walk in which I do not think about sweating or burning calories, sushi, long showers, getting a pedicure (which isn't comforting in itself but makes me feel glamorous afterwards), and long conversations with friends in which I do not worry about what else I should be doing.

NW: Do you enjoy reading? If so, what authors do you especially enjoy? What books would you take to a desert island?

JL: Reading is my passion in life. I read more than I do anything, and often neglect other areas of my life because I am reading a book. The best book I've read in months is Mary Gordon's Spending. Amazing! All time favorite authors would include May Sarton, Toni Morrison, Marion Woodman, Leo Tolstoy, John Dos Passos, Alice Hoffman, Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner, Jane Austen, Mary Oliver, the list could go on and on. The books I would take to a desert island are books I want to read, but can't slow down long enough to understand: The Oxford English Dictionary, Remembrance of Things Past, The Complete Poems and Essays by T.S. Eliot, Ulysses by James Joyce, Poems and Essays by Emerson, Moby Dick, and The Collected Poems of Yeats. And some great favored: War and Peace, Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino, Rilke, Neruda, One Hundred Years of Solitude . . . I could go on and on!

NW: Is there any one book that has had a major/lasting impact on you?

JL: I can't think of one.

NW: I understand you're fairly new to the Internet. Is it changing the way you interact with people, your readers in particular?

JL: I love the Internet, but I get overwhelmed surfing, trying to find something if I don't have anything in mind. I love, love, love getting e-mail from readers. It is so immediate and comforting!

NW: Do you have a treasured possession?

JL: My books.

NW: What has been, to date, your greatest achievement?

JL: Becoming a mom and still writing.

NW: Why do you write? What motivates you?

JL: To create something of worth in the world.

NW: What were you doing pre-1992? Your biography seems to start at that point.

JL: I was writing screenplays, not very successfully. I also worked as a reader in Hollywood, reading books to see if they would make good movies. Before that, I went to USC film school, also known at that time as USC Torture School.

NW: How did you start writing/doing your workshops?

JL: I started writing because the title for the first book popped into my head, The Woman's Comfort Book. It became my grail. I had no idea what it meant but figuring that out was a huge move forward for me. It took several years. I started teaching workshops because my publisher thought it was a good idea. I have loved teaching but also find it frustrating because creating deep change in a day or even a week is very difficult.

NW: How would your best friend describe you?

JL: "Interesting, multi-faceted, creative, impulsive, slightly neurotic, kind, and my favorite person to be with." That is from my best friend Barbra Clifton who I was on the phone with at the time.

NW: Where do you do your writing? Do you have a special place (desk, office)? Do you use a PC? Is there anything unusual about the way you write?

JL: I wouldn't write if I didn't have a computer. I'm slightly dyslexic and my mind moves really quickly so a computer helps me a lot. The ability to move around text is also very important to me. I write in my office at the same desk I've written all my books at. I used to write only in the a.m., but now I write almost any time because I have a young child and need to be flexible.

NW: If you could change anything at all in the world, what would you change?

JL: The destruction of the environment.

Part II.

NW: You mention on your Web site a new "Planner" project. It sounds intriguing. Can you tell us about it?

JL: It isn't a top secret project, but I also don't know exactly what it is. I've been hounded by an idea for months now, an idea based around creating a new way to organize and reflect on daily life. That's about all I know although I would love women to visit my Web site and give their input.

NW: Did you enjoy being on the Oprah Winfrey show and what was it like?

JL: Being on any TV show is torture for me. I never feel hip enough; I never feel articulate enough. I always feel like some awkward wanna be trying to convey something important that cannot always be made into a tidy soundbite. So no, TV is not a great experience for me.

NW: What do you keep in your Comfort Box? And why?

JL: My comfort box is for travel and is very small. It has an essential oil made of lemon, lavender, and ylang ylang. It has current pictures of my daughter and my family. It has blue striped cotton pjs that a friend gave me from Hong Kong via her yard sale. It has a favorite crystal also from an old friend and a little heavy metal goddess statue. And it always includes too many books as my fear is being caught on an airplane without anything good to read.

NW: Can you tell us an unusual fact about yourself? (This can be absolutely anything you like).

JL: I attended USC film school. I saw a ghost when I was living in an old house in Gainesville, Florida in college. I had a home birth with Lilly. I'm dyslexic.

NW: What would you like to do in the next five years?

JL: Write a truly meaningful and lasting book that is not self-help. Nurture my marriage more. Perhaps start a company around my new planner idea.

NW: And if there were no constraints whatever and you could do anything you wanted, would you answer the question differently?

JL: Have another baby. Study and write fiction. Travel a lot more with my family. Fix up my house so it was perfectly lovely.

NW: I was interested to read that you and your publisher help plant trees through the Rainforest Action Network. Are you kept up to date with the work of the Rainforest Action Network?

JL: They used to send us the newsletter, but I haven't received one in a long while. In fact, if I don't remind Harper to give money on behalf of the program, they forget.

NW: If you could give advice to someone starting out on a project (e.g. a writing project) what would you say to them? Especially about motivation.

JL: Only write about something that you can't get off your mind, that you have to or you will go crazy. Try to write every day or so, even if everything sucks in your life. Read How To Get Happily Published by Judith Applebaum. Read everything that is published that relates to what you are writing. Get feedback from people you trust, but only a few.

NW: Do you have a favourite artist, painter or a particular painting that you really like?

JL: The artist that comes to mind today is sculptor Henry Moore. I had a great experience once in St. Louis in a sculpture garden filled with his huge works. I also recently got to see Chagall's stained glass windows in Zurich.

NW: I'm a bit starstruck and over the years I've met a few actors and filmstars and have some interesting stories. Have you met anyone and is there a story to go with it?

JL: Dustin Hoffman is very short.

Copyright © by Nicola Warwick, 2001.
Nicola Warwick is the author of life's little luxuries. She lives in Manchester in the North West of the UK. Nicola's articles have been published in various writing, computing, and electronics magazines. She currently works as Product Marketing Manager at World Online. Read more about her here.

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