Cliff Simon
Loren Stephens
Los Angeles, California
Citizen of the world, life experience is my education.
Los Angeles, California
Undergraduate: BA Cornell University; Master in International Affairs, Columbia University, NYC
Tell us about your career as a writer.
Cliff: This chapter and my memoir is my
first as an author, I have a written a film screenplay which I am
currently pitching. I am an actor so this writing has been an amazing
learning curve for me.
Loren: Writing is my full time career. I
founded a ghostwriting company, Write Wisdom, which ghosts memoirs and
business books for famous and not so famous clients. I write full time.
It is what I love to do and I am well paid for it.
Tell us about your work in Crack the Spine.
“White Bubble of South Africa,” written
by Cliff Simon with me captures a day in the life of a young South
African boy who is challenged by his father to take the tiller of a
racing dinghy on his own in a storm; this is juxtapositioned against the
storm of the boy’s domestic life and the toll of apartheid upon the
family.
Cliff and I were inspired to write this
piece as part of a much larger adventure/memoir, “Paris Nights: My Year
at the Moulin Rouge,” which will be published this Fall.
The main theme of this piece is to learn
how to face your fears. That lesson has carried Cliff through his life
and allowed him to take on many challenges – living alone in Paris as a
principal dancer in the Moulin Rouge, working as an actor in South
Africa and now in the United States, and pulling off some very daring
and dangerous athletic feats.
Tell us about another project you are currently working on.
Cliff: Currently attached to a SCI FI
thriller feature slated to film in Minneapolis next May, produced by an
Australian company, http://www.mad-anthm.com called ‘Project Eden’
Loren: I am currently completing a
novel, “The Sushi Maker’s Daughter,” based on my Japanese husband’s
family history. The novel spans fifty years and explores the themes of
suicide, adoption, and Japanese-American relations. My short story of
the same title was nominated for the 2015 Pushcart Prize. The story can
be found on line in Forge Literary journal.
What are your methods as a writer?
Loren: I write every day, either working
on my own essays, short stories and novels, or on books for my
clients. I have a home office and an office in Westwood, near UCLA. I
toggle between the two. A change of venue is often a good way to switch
gears from one project to another. I use my away-from-home office for
client meetings. I also sometimes go on self-imposed retreats to
resorts around Los Angeles and just unplug. For my novel, “The Sushi
Maker’s Daughter,” I have written five drafts over five years, most
recently with the assistance of a professional editor. For short
stories and essays, I might only write two drafts which are usually
workshopped with a group of three other writers. We have been working
together for five years. All of us met at a class at UCLA and have
stayed together. Having a group of trusted writers giving input is
invaluable, and because we have worked together for so long we speak in
“shorthand.”
What is your favorite book?
Loren: I don’t know if it is my favorite
book, but it has had a profound impact on me, “Magic Mountain,” by
Thomas Mann. A big hefty door stopper of a book.
Who would play you in the film of your life?
Cliff: I would play myself in the film of my life
What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?
Loren: The most beautiful thing I have
ever seen, is not a thing. It is the face of my son when he was born.
Looking into his eyes, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
What makes you cry?
Cliff: Animal cruelty makes me cry.
What is your favorite word?
Loren: My favorite word is the word that stays on the page – the one that I don’t have to kill.
What’s in that cup on your desk?
Cliff: That cup on my desk is a protein shake.
Vanilla or Chocolate?
Loren: Chocolate
Rain or Sunshine?
Cliff: Sunshine
Beach or Mountains?
Cliff: Beach
Loren: Mountains. I hate the beach – all that sand, ugh
Additional Reading on Cliff:
Additional Reading on Loren:
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