Author, Nicole Kear’s memoir NOW I SEE YOU was chosen as a Must-Read by People, Martha Stewart Living, Amazon, and many others who have recognized her success. We had the opportunity to reach out to Kear and discuss her feelings and experiences in becoming the writer she is today
YEM: Did you have anyone in your everyday life who acted as an inspiration to your novel, NOW I SEE YOU?
NK: It was my children that inspired me to write Now I See You. They were tiny when I started writing. Not nearly old enough to read it, hardly old enough to read anything, but I wanted to craft my experience into a story they could one day read, one that would reveal not just the pretty parts, but all of it – the embarrassing, frightening, dumb and often hilarious parts, too.
YEM: Did you always picture it on the big screen?
NK: Yes, I did. When I was in college and my early 20s, my friends and I loved thinking about this ridiculously far-fetched situation: if someone made movies of our lives, who’d play us and our boyfriends and parents and all the other important characters? We’d crack each other up casting these hypothetical movies. So, years later, it strikes me as surreal and amazing that it’s something which has come to pass.
YEM: If your storyline were to go in a different direction, what would be the first change you would make?
NK: That’s a tricky one. It’d be awesome not to be losing my vision, for example, but if I wasn’t, well, you’d have a pretty boring story. I’m of the opinion that you tend to regret the things you don’t do, more than the things you do. One of the great things my visual impairment has given me is a carpe-diem approach to life, which has made me say “Yes!” to pretty much every adventure that presented itself before me, even a few very stupid ones. All of which is to say, no, not many regrets.
YEM: At what age did you first decide to pursue a career in writing?
NK: I was 27. I’d just quit acting and had a baby. The first story I wrote was an essay about his birth.
YEM: Were there any authors who primarily inspired you to become one yourself?
NK: I am a huge bookworm, always have been. So, tons of writers inspired me to pick up pen (or keyboard) and tell my own stories. Anne Lamott’s memoir, Operating Instructions, was an early inspiration – I love her wit, her intelligence, and her honesty. But the book that really gave me the courage to write my own memoir was Ryan Knighton’s Cockeyed, a memoir about his experience losing his vision. His book is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious, and reading it was a real A-ha! moment, which opened the door to me writing my own story years later.
YEM: Do you have any mistakes or regrets that you wish could be corrected after becoming an author? If so, what were they and how would you correct them?
NK: I took a long time writing my memoir. I revised draft after draft after draft. I obsessed over details. The upside of my having been totally neurotic about such careful deliberations is that when I look back, I don’t have any regrets. Of course, if I sat down today to write my story, it wouldn’t be the same book, but that’s just how it works: we change and our stories change, too. Keeps things interesting.
NOW I SEE YOU is available now for readers who wish to get to know Kear better, on a more personal note. Our team is so grateful to have had the opportunity to interview such a talented writer and we definitely recommend that you grab a copy of her latest work!
