Meet Faye Rapoport DesPres, author of ‘Message from a Blue Jay’

Faye Rapoport DesPres is the author of the new memoir-in-essays, Message from a Blue Jay. She earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College. Her essays, fiction, poetry, and reviews have appeared in Ascent, International Gymnast Magazine, Platte Valley Review, Superstition Review, In the Arts, Fourth Genre, TheWhistling Fire, the Writer’s Chronicle, and other journals and magazines. Faye was born in New York City and has lived in England, Israel, and Colorado. She currently lives in the Boston area with her husband, Jean-Paul Des Pres, and their cats. Visit her website at www.fayerapoportdespres.com. 

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About the book

From an astonishing blue jay to a lone humpback whale, from the back roads of her hometown to the streets of Jerusalem and the Tower of London, debut author Faye Rapoport DesPres examines a modern life marked by a passion for the natural world, unexpected love, and shocking loss, and her search for a place she can finally call home in this beautifully crafted memoir-in-essays.

Three weeks before DesPres’s fortieth birthday, nothing about her life fit the usual mold. She is single, living in a rented house in Boulder, Colorado, fitting dance classes and nature hikes between workdays at a software start-up that soon won’t exist. While contemplating a sky still hazy from summer wildfires, she decides to take stock of her nomadic life and find the real reasons she never “settled down.” The choices she makes from that moment on lead her to retrace her steps-in the States and abroad-as she attempts to understand her life. But instead of going back, she finds herself moving forward to new love, horrible loss, and finally, in a way that she never expected, to a place she can almost call home.

Readers who love the memoirs and personal essays of rising contemporary writers such as Cheryl Strayed, Joy Castro, and Kim Dana Kupperman will appreciate Faye’s observational eye, her passion for the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it, and her search for the surprising truths behind the events of our daily lives.

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Interview

Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Message from a Blue Jay. What was your inspiration for it? 

A: I was inspired by my daily life, my travels, the natural world, and some of the incidents and relationships that have been a big part of my life.

Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist. 

A: The narrator of a memoir-in-essays represents the author to a strong extent. You are telling your own story – in this case the story of a woman who re-evaluates her life as she approaches the age of 40 and begins to search for an explanation about how her life turned out the way it did. That journey takes her to many places and to interactions with a variety of important people, and helps her take stock of both her life and life in general. This is not just a book about one woman’s life, or about women’s lives. It’s a book, I hope, about life.

Q: How was your creative process like during the writing of this book and how long did it take you to complete it? Did you face any bumps along the way? 

A: It took me about four years to write Message from a Blue Jay and there were many bumps along the way. For a long time I worked hard to learn how to fashion the essays and improve my craft, and then I worked hard to put individual pieces together in a cohesive manuscript. Along the way I faced times when I couldn’t get an essay right, when a literary journal rejected a piece I really believed in, and when a publisher didn’t feel there was enough of a market for personal essay collections or memoirs derived from essays. I faced each obstacle, learned from it, and moved forward. 

Q: Tell us, how do you keep your narrative exciting throughout the creation of a memoir? 

A: This isn’t easy. In the case of a memoir derived from personal essays, I had to work at developing a narrative and a narrative arc and resolution. Memoirs that read more as direct narratives probably use all of the plot, pacing, and narrative tools that are used in fiction.

Q: Do you experience anxiety before sitting down to write? If yes, how do you handle it? 

A: Sometimes, but not usually. I only feel anxiety if life’s pressures are making it hard for me to carve out the time to write. I just have to work at finding the right balance.

Q: What is your writing schedule like and how do you balance it with your other work and family time? 

A: I usually write early in the mornings so that I can know I got my writing time in and it doesn’t interfere with other responsibilities or time with my husband. Sometimes, of course, when I’m facing deadlines, I have to write at whatever time of day works.

Q: How do you define success? 

A: Being happy with yourself and your accomplishments, whatever they might be. Touching other people’s (and animals’) lives in a positive way.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers whose spouses or partners don’t support their dreams of becoming an author? 

A: I’m not sure I have advice for that situation. My husband, whose father was a writer, has always been very supportive. The only advice I can think of is not to give up on your dreams because another person isn’t supportive.

Q: George Orwell once wrote: “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” Do you agree? 

A: To an extent, yes. Writing is tough, and one shouldn’t undertake the writing life lightly. On the other hand, if you really hate it, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to force yourself to do it.

Q:  Anything else you’d like to tell my readers? 

A: I hope they will enjoy Message from a Blue Jay, relate to some of it and find other things thought provoking. I hope reading the book will be an enjoyable, absorbing experience so they’ll be happy they read it and recommend the book to friends!