This week’s featured author is David Perez. Mr. Perez is the author of Wow! – a funny “memoirito” of boyhood. He grew up in the projects of South Bronx and currently resides in Taos, New Mexico. His book takes his experiences of growing up in a tough neighborhood and attending Catholic School and still finding humor in everyday life. Read our interview with David Perez and see what inspired him to be a journalist, editor, actor, and writer.
Can you tell us about yourself; where you grew up, where you currently reside, etc.?
I grew up in the South Bronx, part of the first generation of Puerto Ricans born and raised in New York City – came to be known as the Nuyorican experience. My family lived in the projects, the Millbrook Houses, which had just been built in the late 1950s. We lived there for over twenty years. Navigating my way in a tough neighborhood and an even tougher Catholic school (I came of age in the mid-60s) comprises much of the story in my book WOW! a funny “memoirito” of boyhood.
As an adult I moved all over New York eventually living in the Upper West Side for many years. I currently reside in Taos, New Mexico. I moved here in 2004 with my wife, award-winning poet, Veronica Golos. I guess you can say I’ve gone from the South Bronx to the Southwest. I still visit the Big Apple to see family; particularly my two adult children, Belinda and Jase.
Being a writer, editor, journalist, and actor, which do you find the most inspiring or are they all in the same realm for you?
At this point in my life, I’m fifty-seven years old, they all pretty much feed each other; although, it’s always a challenge balancing my time. One of the assets of journalism is you don’t have time for writer’s block. You have deadlines to meet and you have to get to the point quickly and concisely. I enjoy doing interviews of interesting people; for instance, the profiles of Taos elders which I wrote for New Mexico Magazine. It was inspiring to learn of their lives and contributions to the community. I also draw inspiration from the writers I edit, drawing inspiration both from their use of craft and the stories they tell.
Acting, in my opinion, is an ideal complement to writing. While the latter is mostly solitary, acting is essentially collective. This isn’t 100 percent true, of course. Many writers nurture themselves in community through workshops, salons, and conferences. Actors spend many a day alone going over lines and delving into character and so on. Nonetheless, acting’s multitudes of exercises can invigorate and inform your writing. This was certainly the case for me, especially when it came to doing public readings of my stories.
As for my own writing, that remains a true pleasure, even as it remains a challenge – maybe because it’s a challenge. I struggle with beginnings a lot. It’s important, I feel, to draw the reader in quickly, to get them hooked into your story right off the bat. But since I had no deadlines beckoning, my writing blocks would kick in big time. In addition, this was about my life. Plus I didn’t have a word limit; there was nothing I couldn’t write. WOW! took years to complete. It was fun, yes, but definitely a lesson in how to keep your eyes on the prize.
What are some of the hurdles that you’ve faced in the abovementioned professions and what tools (internal or external) did you use to overcome some of those hurdles?
Time management is the biggest hurdle. I don’t always manage it well, but most of the time I discover ways to keep a healthy balance in my life. I’ve become very organized over the years and I know, most of the time, how to compartmentalize my work; be it editing an entire manuscript or doing Othello for a community theatre production.
I use a planner and yellow pads a lot, constantly going over my schedule, maybe even too much. I try to have separate places for separate creative work, for instance a coffee shop to do writing, the library to do editing. Whenever possible, I try to divide my day in segments: two hours of morning writing here, a few hours of editing for a client there, but most importantly I make sure to parcel out time for exercise and time with family. Art and creativity are my loves, but so is my wife, my kids, not to mention reading a good book, dancing to good music, enjoying a good hike, and eating a good meal.
What works for me is to always find time for peace and quiet. Sometimes the key to managing your time is to do nothing for a while, to listen to the quiet, and then just breathe.
Did you always want to write or was this something that developed as life developed?
It was more the latter. I have no conscious memory of “wanting to write” when I was growing up. It just happened. My first foray into writing was at the age of fifteen, when I wrote this short story “As the City Sleeps,” which featured my buddies and I as a neighborhood gang called the Dirty Dozen, taking on the Mafia and getting most of our butts killed. I hand-wrote all of it, and my brother George (future famous comic book artist) drew the cover; a precursor to the artwork he’s done for WOW!
By the early 1980s, I was a reporter and managing editor for Workers World newspaper, a socialist weekly. This was activist journalism as our aim was to promote and defend the rights of the working class and all people of color and to talk about capitalism and the need for revolution. At the time, I had no formal training in writing or editing. I literally learned on the job. I wrote and edited hundreds of articles. Those were heady days and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
In the mid 1990s, I took writing workshops to expand into personal essays, which led to a story about my daughter, “When Dolls Talk,” to be published in El Andar Magazine. Then came more writing and then acting and that’s been my life up to now. I consider myself a storyteller because it’s always about the story.
Who are some of the people that have inspired you throughout your profession?
Honestly, there are too many people to name. Without question my wife and kids are on top of the list along with my best friends, my mother, and countless writers, actors and musicians. Ditto the inspirational social and political activists I’ve met and read about over the decades – the more radical the better.
Inspiration comes in many forms and inspires me in different ways at different times. I’m a firm believer in life and the universe being holistic and interconnected. A hearty laugh, a clever quote can make me feel good and that in turn can lead me to write something, or to gain insight into a character in a play I’m doing. Inspiration is often best when it surprises.
What is the best technical writing advice you can give our readers?
In terms of advice, the main thing I can offer is that you should explore each and every possibility, and then find out what works for you. At the same time, keep yourself open to the unforeseen and the unexpected. Seek out other writers and immerse yourself in the creative community as much as possible as many doors can open that way.
But all in all, keep things in balance. At a recent “21st Century Publishing” panel held in Taos, I emphasized that everyone has to seek his and her own journey. Why do you want to write? How important is a book to you, really? What other creative things give you pleasure? Everything boils down to being true to you. It sounds metaphysical but it’s true.
That said; let me say this about a memoir: Pick a time of your life and mine it deeply. Memoir is not an autobiography. Unless you’re really famous, no one is going to want to read about your entire life. So find those moments in life where major stuff happens, something that shapes your person. It needn’t be heavy or tragic, but don’t shy away from it either. Try to have fun with your discoveries and the delving into the self. And remember the axiom: A memoir is not about facts – it is about truth.
When you wrote the book “WOW!” what message were you trying to send to your readers?
That our stories as Latinos are multi-layered and worth telling! That they can be funny; not all our experiences are sad and tragic.
Wow was the first English word I learned when I was two-years old. I feel it epitomizes my character in the book: a Puerto Rican boy full of wonder. One doesn’t ordinarily equate funny with growing up in the South Bronx, but my book is full of humor.
When my family moved to the Millbrook Houses in 1959, the projects were sparkling new and considered “moving on up.” Still, there were changes in the air, many of them negative, and as a kid I saw and felt them. Despite this, my boyhood was filled with some hilarious adventures.
I also wanted to chronicle my Catholic elementary school experience. What I liked the least back then, to put it mildly, was the corporal punishment and particularly by the trio of desperadoes known as Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Their arsenal included paddles, open slaps to the face and bouts of psychosis. The enthusiasm of some of the nuns when they taught religion was fun, even as I was baffled by the intricacies of venial and mortal sins, or the concept that God is eternal. I liked the pomp and ceremony of receiving Sacraments. And the stuff my buddies and I did as altar boys! But you’ll have to read WOW! to learn more about that.
Finally, one of my goals was to make the book accessible and affordable. That’s why I’ve priced it at $10, and the ebook at $3. In these tough economic times, it’s good to have a book that’s a quick, funny read and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Having interior illustrations by my brother George adds another fun dimension to the book, and shows how we can use art to further harness the power of our storytelling.
What is the impact that you want to make with your writing?
To make a difference in people’s lives! One friend who read WOW! was inspired to finally write her own book. I got this email from a fifth grader who wrote, “I loved WOW! Please write more books.” That was pretty ultimate.
Seeing the smile on my mother’s friend when she read the book was also great. I’ve received great reviews on Amazon and my wife and two kids are proud of their dad; that too means everything. I got a hand-written letter from this guy who loved my book and I was blown away. Who takes the time to hand write letters anymore?
Being selected as one of “Top Ten Latino Authors to Watch and Read in 2012” by latinostories.com has been yet another honor, as was the Latino Books Into Movie Award in the Comedy Category and also being a Finalist in the Multicultural Non-Fiction for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. This is the kind of impact I had hoped to make with my writing. It’s been nice.
However, at the end of the day, the best thing has been to point at my book and say, “I did that.”
Is there a question that you have always wanted to be asked regarding your profession and never got asked? If so, please list and answer.
I’ve given lots of talks so I think it’s been pretty much covered. But maybe a question I’ve never thought about will crop up one day and I’ll be totally blown away, thinking: Why was I never asked that before?
What is the next project you are working on and what upcoming events can we expect in the near future?
I’m working simultaneously on WOW! II and WOW! III. I’m also writing some one-act plays, and I continually toy with the idea of doing a one-man show that would incorporate some of my WOW material. When I get close to actually finishing something I’ll update my website, which is davidperezwow.com. You can always find more information there as well as how to contact me. A note to your readers: Please invite me for a reading or presentation! I love to meet new people and to share our fabulously rich stories.
Visit him at: davidperezwow.com
