ANNIE’S ANTICS

ANNIE’S ANTICS

Annie asks Amy Ferris…

…my idea of perfect happiness is when we women have a voice that is heard. When the ERA is passed, when women no longer have to fight so hard, when my friends who are gay and trans don’t have to fear going outside. My idea of perfect happiness is very much about the world we live in right now.

The author I choose each month is one that I believe was born to shine - this month, I want to introduce you to the effervescent, extraordinary and illuminating badass, Goddess, Goddass, and Ruckus Maker - Amy Ferris. She is an author, screenwriter, editor and playwright. Her memoir, Marrying George Clooney: Confessions From A Midlife Crisis debuted theatrically (Off-Broadway) in 2012. Ruth Pennebaker of The New York Times called her memoir "poignant, free-wheeling, cranky and funny." Amy co-edited, along with Hollye Dexter, the new anthology DANCING AT THE SHAME PROM. She has contributed to numerous anthologies including: He Said What? The Drinking Diaries, Exit Laughing, and The Buddha Next Door. Amy is on faculty at The San Miguel de Allende Literary Festival, on the Advisory Board of The Women's Media Center, she serves on the Board of Directors at Peters Valley Art, Education, and Crafts Center, and is a founding Board member of the Scranton, PA based Pages & Places Literary Festival.

She primarily writes about all things women-centric. While she often feels like she's in retrograde, she quite enjoys her life, and her fervent wish is that all women awaken to their greatness. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her husband.

I use the Proust interview model to learn more about authors. I asked them 10 of the 35 questions. The Proust model is a way of learning more about a person beyond the typical interview questions, and what we learn is often new, fascinating, or even something you would never even think to ask. This is how we learn more about their character. Authors are even known to answer these questions about the characters they are creating for their novels.These questions are asked of someone famous each month in the Vanity Fair Magazine and I have always gotten a huge kick out of it.

Q: What is your favorite occupation?

A: Writer. Annie: I love this answer, because there is a difference between being a writer and being an author. I love that you chose writer.

Q: Where would you most like to live?

A: In the heart of my husband.

Q: What would be your greatest achievement?

A: Being able to forgive.

Annie: that is a tough one. That’s brilliant.

Amy: Annie, I think you need to forgive yourself for feeling this way(For more on this and other parts of our conversation, please watch our video or listen to the podcast on Well Read Magazine’s Between the Pages)

Q: Which words and phrases do you find that you overuse?

A: “Fuck You!!” (This deserves to be both Bold and italic)

Q: What is your greatest extravagance?

A: I can tell you what my greatest extravagance used to be, shopping. Now it would be giving away pieces of my heart.

Q: Which living person do you most admire?

A: Gloria Steinem

Q: What do you value most in your friends?

A: I value them sticking in through thick and thin. Not disappearing on me, or anybody when some stuff hits the fan. You know, I think friendship is like marriage.

Q: What is your greatest fear?

A: Abandonment.

Q: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A: This is going to sound really completely totally nuts, but my idea of perfect happiness is when we women have a voice that is heard. When the ERA is passed, when women no longer have to fight so hard, when my friends who are gay and trans don’t have to fear going outside. My idea of perfect happiness is very much about the world we live in right now.

Q: Which talent would you most love to have that you don’t believe you have now?

A: I would love to have an incredible singing voice!

This is such a fun part of the interview to listen to and I simply cannot get over how much we have in common. It shows that you could have such different lives and yet still be connected by certain threads that bind you.It is truly fascinating. This beautiful world we live in should be building more bridges. I just made a new friend!

Don’t miss our full interview and podcast on WELL READ’s Between the Pages.

“Marrying George Clooney is a wonderful read. It is disarmingly candid, and laugh-out-loud hysterical.”– John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Annie McDonnell. Author of Annie’s Song: Dandelions, Dreams & Dogs, Book Reviewer, Author Interviewer, Teacher, Speaker, Writer, Author Consultant, Co-Admin. At World of the Write Review Book Club, Blogger, Author online event planner.

Catch the full interview on WELL READ Magazine's BETWEEN THE PAGES youtube.com/@wellreadmagazine