Ask the Author: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Answered Questions (6)
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Hi, Currently I am working on several pieces and stories around ASHLEY'S WAR and bringing this story to readers. We are calling in and Skyping in to book clubs and bringing this story of heroism, heart and friendship to as many people as we can. Please do reach out via Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter and at http://www.gaylelemmon.com I also am working on some stories for television and there is a film being developed around ASHLEY'S WAR by FOX 2000 and Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. Hope you will stay in touch and send very best wishes -
Gayle
Gayle
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
The idea for this book came when a former Marine, Claire Russo, told me about 1st Lt Ashley White and her story. I wondered immediately how America didn't know that women were out on some of the Afghanistan war's most critical - and dangerous - special operations missions while the combat ban remained in place? I also wanted to know who these women were, why they were there and what had motivated them to sign up to serve at the tip of the spear alongside some of the most tested and highly trained special operations leaders? I started with so many of these questions and then I met Ashley's family. And they introduced me to her teammates. And as soon as I saw this incredible group of friends bound to one another forever by the service they shared, the friends they had known and the kind of combat they had seen, I knew I simply had to tell this story.
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
I get inspired to write by the stories I get to tell. In the case of ASHLEY'S WAR, I was inspired by the opportunity to tell the first special operations-related story to feature nearly all women. And the chance to bring readers into this world of women who were friends for life, who understood one another in ways no one else ever would, not just because of what they had seen and done but because they had seen the kind of combat few women and men had seen at a time when women officially remained banned from ground combat. These were just incredibly funny, fierce and inspiring women who I felt certain America needed to meet, but who thought they had done nothing special at all other than their jobs. That story of female friendship in the least likeliest of places - the special ops battlefield - inspired me and I felt driven to share it with readers.
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
I am not in the advice-giving business as I find people too often offer it unsolicited! But in this case…I would say the best way to get started is to get started. Write. Write.Write. Go find something you find fascinating if you write non-fiction and write about it. Do things that scare you and keep doing them and don't give up when you get a "no" because rejection is a huge part of the game and the business of writing. Keep going and train to be better each time you write. And never let unsolicited advice stop you!
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Oh, the best thing about being a writer is to have the privilege of entering people's worlds and lives in order to share them with readers. In the case of ASHLEY'S WAR, this was such an incredible group of friends -- and in some ways was the ultimate story of female friendship in the least likely of places --and fierce women driven by purpose, and it amazed me that I had never heard of them and that America had never met them. That is why I felt so drawn to this story and just driven to tell it. I had the chance to spend time in people's lives who had such grace and strength and courage and who really made me wonder about the entire way we view the American hero story. And I wanted to share that with America. ASHLEY'S WAR gave me the chance to bring these people into reader's lives, and that is a wonderful thing.
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Hi, thank you for your question…honestly, the only way around writer's block I have ever seen is through it. You just put stuff on a page, even if it is rubbish at the outset, so that you can go back and fix it. With ASHLEY'S WAR this was not so much an issue as there was so much material that the challenge was culling it rather than putting anything at all on the page. On a more personal note, it is in some ways harder to have writer's block when you only have limited hours to write. With work and family you are fighting to find the hours in the day, so when you do get to your computer it is a joy to just focus on the pages in front of you. But when I do get writer's block, particularly on journalism, i will just write something - even if I don't care for it at all - and then return to fix it.
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