Q&A With Lisa Cheek

Emi Battaglia has connected me with author Lisa Cheek! Lisa Cheek has written memoirs which are Sit, Cinderella Sit which was a People Magazine Pick, & her upcoming memoir which will be released on September 22^nd, is titled The Big Day. In a past life, Lisa was a film and television editor!

Q: Welcome to Book Notions Lisa! Would you please give a brief description of your memoirs beginning with your upcoming release, The Big Day?

A: The Big Day

For years, Lisa Cheek believed commitment wasn’t in her style. Her dating patterns were clear—date a lot and widely, but never settle down. When anyone wanted to marry her, she ran. So even she is surprised when, at forty-nine, she finally says “yes” to a proposal and commits fully to her boyfriend, Big Johnson. But when she finds out on their wedding day, after the vows, that they aren’t actually married, she hesitates. Should she take this as a sign to run while she still can?

In The Big Day, Cheek invites us to witness her wedding day, with all its hilarity, chaos, and unexpected turns. Throughout, she reviews both her past relationships and the marriages of her family and friends, analyzing the choices of others and reliving the biggest ups and downs of her own love life. Ultimately, she must decide once and for all whether she’s just not marriage material—or if she’s finally found a love worth staying for. 

Sit, Cinderella, Sit 

Lisa Cheek shares her adventures in editing a film made on location in China—along the Tibetan border—where Mandarin was the only language spoken by everyone but her. Stuck in a house with fourteen men she couldn’t understand, literally, she yearned for conversation and coffee.

But there were moments of wonder and laughter. Cheek forged a bond with her translator and a woman named Sunny. She rescued one dog, and then another. “Everyone speaks Cinderella,” the director had assured her. Maybe he was right.

Told with humor and heart through a fairy tale lens, with flashbacks into the author’s not-always-happy childhood, Sit, Cinderella, Sit is a story about what can happen when you take a leap of faith, look and hear beyond people’s differences, and dare to believe in yourself.

Q: How long did it take you to write both of your memoirs? What made now the right time to write The Big Day? What messages & emotions are you hoping readers learn and feel after reading all your memoirs especially The Big Day? 

A: I believe we write what we write because something keeps rattling in our heads and writing about it can be the only way to shut it up. Plus I really liked these stories and it’s been said write what you want to read and I would totally read these two books.

My first memoir, Sit, Cinderella, Sit, took me three years to write as a novel. But I didn’t love it. Then, I went to my first writers conference where I met Amy Ferris, a memoirist. When she heard a chapter of Sit, Cinderella, Sit, she said “You need to own your story. Turn it into a memoir.” So, she spent the next year editing it and that’s when I fell in love with my story. 

Sit, Cinderella, Sit taught me more than I ever expected. I learned what a lonely kid I was which followed me into adulthood. I learned age is a number and just because someone says you are old doesn’t make it true. Life is way more fun with a dog in it so run to your local shelter and adopt one, two or three. Life is an adventure and last, but not least, kindness is a universal language

My second memoir, The Big Day, was based on a blog I wrote fifteen years ago. I tried to write it as a screenplay with someone, but it fell flat and I saw that it needed to be told as a memoir, because of all the magical things that really happened to me in both stories. This one went much quicker. I knew I wanted to tell this story with a fragmented/mosaic structure, blending my past with present. The Big Day took two years but it’s been cooking in my subconscious when I decided to tell these three separate stories.

Since The Big Day is new, I’m still learning things about why I needed to write it. Certainly, marriage was such a baffling union in my surroundings. No one ever stayed together and had multiple marriages and divorce caused so much misery, confusion and sadness. It was through writing this memoir, I learned patterns in marriages and why things didn’t work out. I started to understand my fears. And through writing this memoir, it’s obvious why I married Big Johnson. He was the man for me. I needed to grow up and become a good mate. I had massive work to do on myself and I’m still working on myself. It’s never ending I think – learning how to be a better person.

Q: How do you decide what to focus on for each of your memoirs?  While you wrote The Big Day were there any parts you wrote that were cathartic? Were there parts that were difficult to relive and write down? 

A: Coming from a film editor background of twenty-five years, I knew I had three stories I wanted to write. I started with Sit, Cinderella, Sit, about four months of my life, then The Big Day about one day of my life, and this third one looks like it will be ten days of my life. They are about three different defining moments in my life.

The hardest part to write in The Big Day was my realization of having been a people pleaser my whole life and making the choice not to do that anymore, knowing people in my life wouldn’t like it. Because when I chose me, it ended important relationships in my life.  I was sad at the time. But I know now I’m a better person for it even though there was loss.

Q: Since you’ve written 2 memoirs, what wisdom do you have for others wanting to write their own memoirs? In your opinion, what makes the perfect memoir? 

A:  Take as many classes as you can. It’s so easy now with zoom. Go to book events at your local bookstores. Read. Find a writing group. And join Memoir Nation. They always have something wonderful going on.

Q: Are you currently writing your next memoir, if so are you able to reveal any details?

A: My next memoir is about ten days of my life. It feels like the most challenging one so far. I’ve only written the first ten pages so we’ll see where it goes. I believe I have a loose outline of scenes. Once I’ve written several of them, the structure will appear and I’ll fine tune the outline again, and then work on the structure until it feels like a tight story.  Then it’s time to bring on a developmental editor. I think it’s important to be open to where the story wants to take you so I try not to do too much planning – just enough to know what scene I’m on going to write the next day so I always have something to write.

Q: If you were to experiment with writing something that isn’t a nonfiction memoir & you were to write fiction, what genre would you try your hand at? 

A: I’ve always loved Historical Fiction. We’ll see if the muse brings me an idea to pursue.

Q: In a past life, you were a tv and film editor! What does being a tv and film editor entail & what was that experience like? Would you ever go back to editing tv and film or are those days long gone?

A: I loved being a film editor. Sit, Cinderella, Sit is all about the last job I cut along the Tibetan boarder in Yunnan, China. I traveled with the Chinese film crew while they shot in remote areas. Editing a film is a massive undertaking and when you’re on location it brings all sorts of logistical problems along. So I’ve learned to be flexible and go with the flow. I also learned how long it takes to tell a story of that length.

Having edited a ton of TV commercials, making the story tight without losing meaning was of upmost importance when you only thirty seconds to tell a story. TV commercials were fun, too because it was a challenge to choose only that which makes the story better. I think that experience helps  me edit my own material so by the time it goes to the edit, they don’t cut much.

Q: Congratulations on Sit, Cinderella Sit being a People Magazine Pick! What did that feel like knowing that People Magazine acknowledged your memoir?

A: Unbelievable. Surreal. I’m ever so grateful to be a part of their picks.

Q: Would you please provide links to your social media accounts so the readers of the blog and I may follow you and your work?

A:  https://www.lisacheek.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lisacheekauthor/

https://lisacheek.substack.com/

https://www.facebook.com/lisa.cheek/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisacheek/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/50524742.Lisa_Cheek