The First Day of Christmas with ZsuZsa Simandy by Gerri Brousseau

Welcome to Nights of Passion's 12-Days of Christmas Special Giveaway.  We're so excited to have you here with us today.  ZsuZsa Simandy, what a wonderful name and you have such a colorful personality, it's no wonder you have written a memoir.

Writer's Digest commented on GATHERING ROSES, THORNS AND ALL, "…fine, fine writing. Your voice is elegant, intelligent, humorous, sober and more. It is tone-perfect and a joy to read…."

NOP:  Please tell our readers about GATHERING ROSES, THORNS AND ALL, Reflections on a Charmed Life.

ZsuZsa:  Allow me to quote my website: "A timeless theme: cultivating a passion for life by embracing every aspect of it… Readers will find themselves compelled to join her, to flow with her.  Wander the haunted streets of Budapest in a trance. Listen to the music of a gypsy cimbalom player who plays just for you at the Red Tulip in Manhattan.  Breathe in the scent of lilacs with a hungry heart in the mediaeval city of Sopron.  Nestle against a man with a Cheshire-cat smile on a carriage ride at dawn through Central Park.  Stroll dreamily around the Guilford Green in softly falling snow.  Frolic with her delightful grandchildren.  And, greet her lover at the door."

It is about living a rapturous, open-ended life.

NOP:  When did you decide you wanted to write a memoir?

ZsuZsa:  I always intended to write a memoir.  A nonagenarian friend of mine asked me: "Have you lived long enough?"  To which I replied: "I have lived fully enough."  It's a sharing of a reckoning with life, something, I believe, sooner or later we are all called upon to do.

NOP: What event(s) in your life inspired you and gave you the courage to write GATHERING ROSES?

ZsuZsa:  Turning 60, needing a new challenge, a midlife review, a need to make peace with my choices in life, and leaving "me" behind for my family—me, the person, as well as mother and grandmother.  Staying connected.  All promptings from within, a bold sense of now or never.

NOP: Who is your favorite fictional hero and heroine?  Why?

ZsuZsa:  Perhaps Heathcliff and Catherine inWUTHERINGHEIGHTS.  They are so intense, so greater-than-life, yet so human and fallible—drastic choices and all.

NOP: If you were to give a Christmas gift to your favorite hero, what would it be and why?

ZsuZsa:  Well, if I'm still saying Heathcliff, then perhaps some psychotherapy session.  But then, as Rilke had said, "If I get rid of my devils, will my angels leave me as well?"  So Rilke, don't you think?

NOP: What advice do you have for new writers who are striving to get published?

ZsuZsa:  Persist, persist, persist.  Ultimately all the energy you divest in it will come back in the physical form of a published book.

NOP: If you were unable to write, what other profession would be of interest to you?

ZsuZsa:  Singing, dancing, gardening… Of course, I'd need to write about it all after a while!

NOP: How do you deal with the dreaded "doubt monster"?

ZsuZsa:  I disregard it.  If it ever knocks, however faintly, on the door of my literary aspirations, I simply put out the sign: DO NOT DISTURB.  It stalks away.

NOP:  Do you ever get writer's block and if so, how do you deal with it?

ZsuZsa:  I don't ever get writer's block, I'm glad to say.  That may be because I'm a "pantser," that is I only write when I get the urge, the inspiration.  An image will flood my imagination and I'm prompted to tell, to describe, to share… it may turn into hours of meaningful work.  Then I rest on my laurels until I feel urged again.  Basically, I'm lazy, or, I'd rather think, languorous.

NOP: If you could be any fictional character, who would that be and why?

ZsuZsa:  I'm actually my own fictional character; I reinvent myself on a daily basis, depending on who I feel like being—it could be Anna Karenina one day, full of pathos and drama, or a character from one of my favorite mysteries, ready to pursue "lines of inquiry."  I've even "been" Stephanie Plum, torn between two equally delicious lovers.  No, I'm not schizophrenic; I'm playacting, using all my characteristics, flaws and all.  It's fun!

NOP:  Who is your favorite author?

ZsuZsa:  Still Leo Tolstoy.  He is—eternal.

NOP: What is your favorite novel?

ZsuZsa:  Always the one that moves me the most in the moment…

NOP:  What's next for you?

ZsuZsa:  I've already written a reincarnational romance based on breaking a karmic spell—RENDEZVOUS– and at the moment I'm near completion on a contemporary romance/fantasy—PARALLEL WORLDS– whose characters I'm finding very charming and amusing, and always up to something!  A psychological mystery may follow, exploring the human psyche and different faces of love—a very different mood.

Nights of Passion thanks ZsuZsa for spending the day with us.  She has graciously agreed to give one lucky winner a copy of her Memoir, Gathering Roses, Thorns and All.  In order to be in the running, please write "I want a partridge in a pear tree" in your comment.  Good luck.

Filed under: romance