Q&A With Rochelle Weinstein

Tonight I’m doing a Q&A with Rochelle Weinstein the USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author of “When We Let Go,” “This Is Not How It Ends,” “Somebody’s Daughter,” “Where We Fall,” “The Mourning After,” and “What We Leave Behind”. Rochelle used to be a former entertainment industry executive. 

Q: At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer? 

A: Ha! That’s a question I still ask myself…is this really happening?! I think writing was instilled in me from a very early age. I journaled from ages 10 – 26 but kept my words private and guarded. At 30, I knew I had a story to tell, and the words poured out of me. It was a lark. I didn’t think anything would come of it. Now here we are.

Q: What advice do you have for someone who wants to be a writer? 

A: PERSEVERE. Don’t take NO for an answer. No means NEXT OPPORTUNITY. Turn rejection into another door. Now more than ever there are multiple ways to see your work in print. Find the path that works best for you. There’s no straight shoot. Every author has their own personal journey. To survive in this business, you need thick skin and grit. It’s not easy. Even those authors you see all over social media touting their books, there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes—the ups and downs. I, personally, have had some form of struggle with every one of my books. Nothing is ever what it seems. Manage expectations, don’t read reviews, and NEVER GIVE UP.

Q: What advice do you have for someone who suffers through writers block?

A: Some days are just meant to be thinking days. Maybe there’s a plot hole, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the manuscript. Listen to the cues and be kind to yourself while you work through it. Do something you love. Take a walk. Connecting with nature is always motivating and inspiring. There’s often a reason for the block so trust that it’s there to guide or help in some way. Even if you’re blocked, try to write something every day. Often, when we resist, the magic suddenly appears.

Q: What was it like being an entertainment industry executive? What do entertainment industry executives do exactly?

A: Laughing because my children have always said that was my cool job. I worked at The Box Music Network, a music channel in the nineties that featured on-demand music videos 24-hours a day. My boss and I handled all the advertising and promotions for every record label in the country. Imagine endless CD’s, artist access, free concerts and backstage passes, and a heck of a lot of FUN. You know what they say, if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. That job was not work. When MTV bought the network (the channel became MTV2), and I considered my next move, I wrote my first novel.   

Q: Does Hollywood have the rights to any of your novels?

A: I wish!

Q: On your amazon profile it said you are currently writing your next novel and it comes out in spring of 2023. Can you spoil a little bit about it?

A: WHAT YOU DO TO ME (working title) releases May 23, 2023. It’s the story of Cecilia James, a music junkie who works for Rolling Stone magazine and her quest to find the inspiration behind a famous love song. This one is a dual timeline set on the shores of Miami Beach in the seventies and Los Angeles in the nineties.