Carole Radziwill
The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating is a dark comedy about death, sex and love in that order. My protagonist, Claire Byrne, loses her husband in an accident and is forced to start over as a young widow. She reinvents herself and embarks on a quirky little journey in search of love and self-discovery that I hope will be fun for readers.
Where did your inspiration for the story come from?
It came from a number of places. The themes of love and loss are universal and seemed like natural ones to write about, and the start of the book is actually my own twist on a Graham Greene short story called "A Shocking Accident."
I am constantly watching, and listening, always on the lookout for inspiration. Writing fiction this time, where I could have the characters say and do anything, was quite a bit of fun.
How much has your background in journalism aided your writing?
My journalism background is my writing; they go hand-in-hand. Journalism is discovery and storytelling, as is writing, so I've been doing it all along. The tricky thing -- the challenge this time, which I loved -- was tackling fiction.
Please tell us about your book What Remains, which spent 20 weeks in the New York Times Bestseller list.
My life felt like it had stopped cold, at 35, the summer my husband and close friends died. And before I could start it over again, I felt a need to get that first wonderful piece of it down. I was fortunate to have found and loved the people I did. I was blessed with many interesting experiences and adventures. So the book is about my marriage, and the cancer Anthony and I fought right from the beginning, and the loved ones we lost. But it is also the story of a young girl from upstate New York who leaves town and makes her dreams come true.
You have travelled a lot for your career as a journalist, so which experience has stuck with you the most?
Cambodia still haunts me. It's such a beautiful country, people and culture, but one that has suffered unimaginable acts of violence and loss.
You are about to film a new series of The Real Housewives of New York City, so please can you tell us about your role in this show.
Well, last year I think I was the voice of reason. The drama sort of swirled around me. It was like a storm in a teacup, but I stayed out of the teacup. This season, though, it finds me. I scream, and curse. I've got to say, screaming is underrated. I loved it. :)
At what point did you decide to leave ABC news to write?
As a documentary and news producer at ABC, one of my primary functions was telling the story. You research and collect all the pieces, and then you have to decide how to put all of it together into a compelling narrative. So I was always writing. But I left ABC shortly after my husband died because my life had changed so drastically. Returning to the same routine didn't work for me. I struggled for a few years, to find my way, then I began writing my memoir. And, oddly, it was the novel I was trying to write initially, but I wasn't getting anywhere. I needed to write my own story first.
You have written for many publications such as Marie Claire and Women and Health magazine, so which has been your favourite?
I love writing for all of them, and continue to! I do have a soft spot for Glamour magazine. They gave me my first column, "Lunch Date," and let me kind of run and have fun with that. Cindy Leive has always been so wonderful to work with, and I remain close friends with many of the editors I've worked with there.
How therapeutic did you find writing your autobiography?
It was cathartic to just get the stories down, because I felt like not only had I lost my husband and closest friends, but I was losing those memories, too. But the daily discipline of writing and rewriting, was very therapeutic. It was a labor of love, yes, but good old-fashioned labor, too. Getting the story down, into a first draft, was painful. But after that, the real work of writing a book was very therapeutic for me.
What is next for you?
Something interesting, I hope. I'd like to marry Liam Neeson, cook, take lots of bubble baths. Or move to Guatemala and teach English.