Extra Credit Assignment

Constance J. McGlasker
7 December 2007
EH 468-101
Dr. Alford

Interview with Glenda Wallace, author of I Need Therapy

Constance McGlasker (CM)
Glenda Wallace (GW)

CM: Who is this on the book cover?
GW: It’s not me. The publishing company designed that cover. I had nothing to do with
it. I was just telling them what I wanted and this is what they came up with so I was happy, I was like yes, that’s it. That’s exactly what this book is about. That’s what I tried to do with this book. I’m sure you’ll love it.

CM: Have thoughts of being an author ever crossed your mind when you were a child?
GW: When I was a child what really came across my mind was just writing and I can remember being as young as 8 or 9. I had this big foot locker like the older people used to have back in the day. My mom had one she wasn’t using. When I was a kid I would read and write. That’s all I would do. I would write poems, short stories, lyrics, I thought I was going to be the next Janet Jackson, I would write lyrics to my own songs. I guess I always had that in me just wanting to write, trying to express myself with words, more so than anything. My mom used to always get to on me when I was a child, and during the summer when everybody else and all my friends were out having fun, being kids, I would be locked away in my room with my pen and pad. I would just be writing away. I used to keep everything in the foot locker, and I used to put my little combination lock on there so nobody else could get into it, but that is how I got into writing. I’ve been doing it ever since.

CM: Have you face rejection from other publishing companies?
GW: Well, I actually didn’t get into that stage because I chose to self-publish my book so I didn’t go through the traditional publishing houses, submitting your manuscripts through the traditional publishing houses, and from what I understand, you can face a lot of rejection. Therefore, I didn’t want to go through all of that. So, I chose to self-publish, and what I did was just did research. I went through and found someone. This was very important to me. My book was a very important project. I’ve been working on it for about 10 years. So I did my research, I went online, and researched the self-publishing companies, and I found someone who was going to put the most effort into my book, give me the most for what I’m looking for. So I think I’m quite pleased with the people who published my book and therefore so far I have not had to face that rejection yet.

CM: What motivated you to write and release I Need Therapy, and how has it changed lives?
GW: I Need Therapy started out as a journal, and when I started it out I didn’t intend to write a book. I didn’t intend for it to be a book, but it just came about that once I started doing research, talking to people, I started putting it into book form around 2000. I seriously started working on it between 2000 and 2002. What motivated me to go ahead and do it and finish it up was when Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, and at my job we were out of work for a year because they were going to renovate the casino from top to bottom. I took that year, I focused, and put it into my book. I completed it between 2005 and 2006. We went back to work in August 2006. My book is so newly released; it was just released in July of this year, and I get such satisfaction when I get emails and phone calls from people. I work at the casino at the Beau Rivage. I am a table games dealer, and I work from nine to five. I had a lady from Pensacola who purchased a copy of my book from me at the Sister to Sister Expo, [which was held at the Mobile Convention Center in September]. Actually, someone purchased it for her; so she didn’t actually purchase it herself; she was at the expo, but I didn’t get a chance to meet her. She came into my job, and she wanted her book signed. She came to me, and she said, “This book has really inspired me as a woman. I feel like every woman in the world needs to read this book.” I get such a sense of satisfaction when people come to me and say, “Wow! I really needed that. It helped me.” For me, when I started writing the book, it actually started out as a journal. I was going through so much in my past and when I was younger, dealing with relationships, love, finances, my health, I was going through so much. Some of the things I would put up with, and like I said, this book primarily deals with relationships, and at the time I was going through so much with relationships. I would always say to myself, “Man, I need therapy. I really need some therapy.” So I started keeping a journal, and I named my journal I Need Therapy. I felt that at the time, it was really important for me to document my feelings because as time went on, I grew and learned from that experience, I could look back and see where I had my growth. It was all documented. So, I feel like it is important to put your feelings on paper. I don’t care if it is just a thought or something. Put it down, write it down; you can always go back later and say, “Hey, I’ve grown from that. I’ve changed.” That’s what it did for me; so that was my therapy—my writing was my therapy. That’s how I came up with the book title I Need Therapy. So, I’ve been doing my research, everything that is in there. There is a lot that reflects about me, my past, things that I have gone through, lessons I have learned in life, but there is also lessons from other women because I have that motto—Women, we share a common bond. It doesn’t matter your race, background, how much money you make, we all go through some of the same issues, whether it is relationships, money matters, and health. So I feel that we as women should bond together. We can all learn from each other. We can learn something from somebody else’s experience, and that’s what this book is all about. At some point in time, we all need therapy. Therapy can be anything, whatever works for you, that can be your therapy. This is my first book, and I’m working on my second one. My second book is called Searching for Sanity. It is based off of the actual events that happened in I Need Therapy, but I go into details, I create fictional characters around the stories that are in I Need Therapy. It is amazing. I plan on having it done, completed, and published in Spring 2008. I’m actually finished up with everything. I just don’t want to push it too close to this project. I want to fully devote my time into promoting this one before I get out and start trying to promote Searching for Sanity. It’s good. It is a fiction novel.

CM: Has your level of writing changed from this project to the next one?
GW: I don’t want to be put in that category of being just an African-American writer or author. I try to be flexible and write what everybody can understand. No matter what your race, background, so you can understand. It is simple so everybody can understand it.

CM: What were the easiest/hardest parts about writing I Need Therapy and Searching for Sanity?
GW: The publishing process was fairly simple. The hardest part was getting it all together and just really focusing because sometimes I get to the point where I can write, I have this sperks where the only thing I want to do is just write. I don’t want to do anything else. I don’t want to read. I just want to write. I can write for 2-3 days straight with the exception of going to eat, doing the necessity things. I can get up, go feed my dog, and I’m right back on the computer. Things will just come to me. Then I will go through that phase where I get a burnout, and it’s like I can’t do this and it may be two or three months before I go back to it. It just comes in sperks. Since I published my book I have so many people come to me and say, “You know what? I started writing a book.” Everybody starts writing a book, but we never finish it. I started writing other books before, but I never finished it. So, I think the hardest part is just getting yourself focused and say hey, I’m going to do this; I’m going to complete it. This book was so important to me. The day I finished my last page, when I knew, hey, this is it, when that last paragraph went in I prayed and I cried and I said, “Lord, please let this book serve the purpose that I meant and wrote it for.” It was just like such a sense of relief that just came over me because I’ve been working on this for so long, and it was so important. It was the first, but it is the biggest project for me because I open up so much of myself in this book. I make myself so transparent in this book. It’s like hey there are some things in there. I said to myself, “Do I really want people to know this?” But in order for it to serve the purpose that I’m writing it for I have to tell it all. I have to open myself up and say hey, this is me. I talk about everything in this book. I talk about my experience with breast cancer. I love talking about my book. I love to talk about this book.

CM: As a currently single woman, have you faced criticisms from married couples after I Need Therapy was released?
GW: I don’t claim to know everything. I can only tell you about me, what I know, and what other people have told me. So, I’m not an expert, and I’ll say that to anybody. I’ve been married five times, and I’ve been divorced five times. In some cases, being in a situation like that you take a lot of criticism from some people who say How can she..., she’s been married five times...You take the criticism, but at the same time you have to know what you can and can’t deal with in your own home. For me, it’s always been easier to say hey, I feel like I’m not being treated like I should be treated. I’m not getting the respect in this situation that I should get. A lot of times a situation will start out one way will end up something totally different. So I can only tell you about my experiences and what other people tell me. I have been married and divorced five times. So I haven’t always been single, though I’m single now. One thing I believe in is life is too short to be in a situation where you’re not happy. If it comes to a point where I hear women say all the time, hey I’m sticking in there, I got to hang in there because of the kids. I don’t have any kids, and maybe if I did have kids I could probably see what they’re saying. Because I don’t have kids, I feel like I should get the same respect and treatment from you that I give to you, that I put into my marriage. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not without fault, and I’m not putting blame on anybody that I’ve ever been with or been married to. It takes two. I have my faults and weaknesses because I’m a little bit short on patience. So that may have had a lot to do with it, but I’m working on it. That is a weakness.

CM: Do you have any future speaking engagements or other upcoming events?
GW: I’m working on some things in my area now. I’m also working on doing interviews with a couple of magazines over in Jackson, Miss. I [recently] did a speaking engagement at the Lighthouse Apostolic Church in Grand Bay. They had a program for breast cancer awareness month, and I actually met the lady who coordinated it. I met her at the Sister to Sister Expo. She bought a copy of the book, and she asked me to come out and talk about the book and speak about my experience with breast cancer. I had a great time there. I just love getting out and talking to people and meeting people. I love it. It’s a lot of fun. You learn things about people because it’s like when people read my book and things that they may not have told anybody else, they feel free to open up to you and say hey I had my experience with this and I tried to hide it and I never wanted to talk to anybody about it because I was ashamed of it. Sometimes it helps to talk to other people. It really does.

CM: How has being an author and your works changed your life and the lives of others?
GW: I have been very fortunate to have a job that I enjoy as a part-time casino table games dealer. I work about three to four days a week from nine to five, making $50,000 a year. That gives me a lot of time to focus on my writing and myself to do other things I want to do with my writing and getting my work out there. I’ve been very blessed and fortunate enough to have a job where I can do that. I enjoy what I do because I meet a lot of people. Being an author is still new to me. It seems like everyday people start to recognize you. For example, I would have people who purchased a copy of my book outside of my area, and they would come through the casino just to meet me. It’s starting to be real big right now. I didn’t expect for it to be like this this soon. It’s great because people would walk up to you and say hey I like the chapter about [this and that], when you talked about this person, you were talking about me. It’s great. I love it. One of my original reasons for writing I Need Therapy was to encourage and educate women to make better decisions in their everyday lives, not just with their relationships but with their health and their financial matters. I think that it is important, especially for the younger generation of women to realize that the decisions that they make right now are going to have an impact on the person that they become later on in life. I can look back now and say hey I’m happy with where I am but I had to work so hard to get her because I didn’t have that education. I finished high school, went a year of community college, and dropped out. I decided to go into the military, this is what I’m going to do, and I’m going to make a career out of it. I went into the military, did that for about four to five years, and decided that wasn’t the right move for me. So when I got out, it was a little bit harder to get those good paying jobs. I had to sometimes take whatever just to pay the bills and make ends meet because you don’t always luck up and fall into a job. I’m blessed and fortunate right now that I did end up getting into the casino industry as a part-time casino table games dealer. I do quite well. I work about three to four days a week from nine to five, making about $50,000 a year, but it’s not easy. Had I went on and got my education, got a degree, maybe I wouldn’t have had to work as a sales clerk and take some of the abuse. I want women as well as men to know that the decisions that you make right now early on in your life are going to have an impact. You don’t think about it when you’re so young. You really don’t think what I do right now is going to impact me later. Sometimes we don’t think about that, and I didn’t think about that. Right now I wish I had taken that time, gone on and got my education so I wouldn’t have had to struggle and just take whatever is out there in order to pay the bills. That is the one thing that I think is really important. People often ask me, “How do you write like you do when you haven’t had any formal education in writing or anything like that?” I write from the heart. I write what I feel, and fortunately enough there are editors out there who can correct those little mistakes, but at the same time, I feel like education is a background. You really need that education, and from that you can pretty much do what you want. You have choices when you have that education, and when you don’t you’re limited.
website: www.glendawallace.com
email: glendawallace@glendawallace.com