Fascinating Authors

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What excites you most about your book’s topic? Why did you choose it?

Author: I did not so much choose my book’s topic as my topic chose me. This was a story I felt I had to write.  For years I was obsessed with what happened to me when I was five years old, was taken from my mother, ended up in a foster home, and was sexually abused – I found this out later.  This sad story, I was convinced, led me to the mental illness I experienced of periods of extreme exhilaration followed by prolonged periods of massive depression.  I wanted to understand that story and put it into context. It was only later that I learned that this childhood trauma was not the cause of my distress, but rather I was bipolar. This knowledge gave a whole new perspective to my story and my adult experiences.  The complete picture became my goal to capture in Bipolar Bare.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: How long did the book take you from start to finish?

Author: I worked on this book for five years. I wrote four drafts, and worked with a book coach during this period. Since this is my first book, I wanted to get it right.  I would write four or five chapters, send them to my book coach, and he would critique them; and I would rewrite. I think I have at least 12 letters that went back and forth between us discussing the progress of the work.  Michael Levin, of Celebrity Ghost — I found him through the New York Review of Books — was my coach. He never wrote a word for me, but he helped me craft the arc of the story and the character of my muse, Carlotta, which are the two most prominent suggestive points among the many he made.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What aspect of writing the book did you find particularly challenging?

Author: The most challenging aspect of Bipolar Bare was getting the right tone and character to my fictional alter-ego Carlotta, who helps me tell my real story.  The story in Bipolar Bare is real, but Carlotta, with whom I carry on dialogues throughout the book, is a fiction of my mind. Getting her to support my story, add humor, and depth to it without detracting from it or making it seem like this memoir was a fictional work was a delicate balance. I think I accomplished this task, but it was a major effort.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What surprised you the most about the book writing process?

Author: I knew going into this project that writing is re-writing. I just wasn’t prepared for how much rewriting I would need to do. Cutting and pasting, and moving, and deleting, and rewording is a time-consuming effort. Sometimes it makes you want to tear your hair out, if you have any left (and I don’t have a lot).  To get the nuance, or just the right feel to a passage, or just the right transition from one section of a story to another takes a lot of concentration, and yet you can’t force it.  After beating a piece to death for a morning and it still sucks, you have to leave it and move on, and come back to it later. Usually when you do, the right words fall easily into place, as if they have been percolating in your head for all the time you let go.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Did you have any favorite experiences when writing your book?

Author: My favorite experiences when writing my book were when I was hot and the words and images were flowing.  It was as if my brain was on fire and every stroke of the key on my computer was right on the mark. This state of concentration is the best there is in the creative process. Nothing else equals it enjoyment and sense of satisfaction. Oh, that it would last for days, but unfortunately it doesn’t. The best that I have had is four or five hours of super creativity, where the flow is uninterrupted and the words are seamless.  Occasionally this writing is so good, it doesn’t need a rewrite. That is really special.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What do you hope your readers will gain from reading your book?

Author: I hope readers will gain an understanding of Bipolar Disorder from a different perspective, one that is totally uncensored and bold. I hope readers will find in my story a recovery from disaster that gives hope to those suffering from the disorder and gives hope to families who have members who are mired in the demons of bipolar illness. Last, I want a reader to find beyond the mental illness issue a darn good tale well written.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What projects are you currently working on?

Author: I am working on a book about art in Los Angeles in the 1980s called the ART DOCKMENTS. It is the story about my drive-by art gallery in downtown Los Angeles from 1980 to 1986, when downtown Los Angeles was the scene of a very avant-garde, bohemian, and strictly illegal art scene in the industrial lofts.  The drive-by art gallery was in a loading dock of a warehouse, where I put on 36 shows in those six years. Each show had a unique story which included illegal art showings, art stolen and on TV, and art that never appeared at a big opening.  The story of the gallery parallels the story of the downtown art scene in its rise, heyday, and decline.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Is writing your sole career? If not, what else do you do?

Author: Carl Davis likes to think himself as a Renaissance man.  Writing is not my sole career. I am an architect, an artist, public speaker on issues of mental health, and a life coach to those in need with Bipolar Disorder.  As an architect I designed the Los Angeles Mission for the Homeless and the North Hollywood Subway Station for LA Metro Red Line, to name two of my projects.  As an artist I have exhibited at several galleries in LA. For eight years I was design critic then Chairman of LA Architect, the magazine about architecture for the Los Angles Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Did you do any research for your books, or did you write from experience?

Author: Bipolar Bare is written completely from experience. The Art Dockuments have led me to doing research on art in LA in the 1980s as background for the book.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: How did you come up with your title?

Author: Bipolar Bare is a double entendre. It is called Bare because I am baring it all. I am telling all the truth I can. This of course sounds exactly like bear, as in polar bear or, if you extend the metaphor, a bipolar bear. I am also a big person and people think of me as a big bear. My favorite animal is the polar bear.  In my studio I have lots of stuffed and ceramic polar bears.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What books have influenced you the most?

Author: William Styron’s book on depression “Darkness Visible” is one of my favorite books. Styron writes beautifully and poetically about his battle with depression from the very first sentence of this short work. Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” is another favorite, and who could fail to mention Kay Redfield Jamison’s “The Unquiet Mind?”  Any book by V. S. Naipaul catches my attention. I just finished reading “Among the Believers,” his old account of travels in the Islamic world. Naipaul is a true master of the English language and his observations are pure genius that seem timeless to me.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Who was your publisher and why did you choose them?

Author: My publisher was Book Surge, now called Create Space. I chose this company because of its ownership by Amazon. I thought – but now I am not sure of the correctness of my logic – that this would be an advantage to me.  Not that I have anything major I want to complain about, but in the world of self-publishing there are many different choices.  All of them seem ultimately to be about the same in terms of cost and what they will do for you.  They do not seem to be set up to do anything special without a fair amount of hassle.  I designed my own cover and interior layout with my own graphic designer. This went against the grain of the publisher and took us a long time to get an approvable proof.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Tell us a little bit about your book.

Author:  Bipolar Bare is a memoir about my life’s journey with bipolar disorder. It covers 30 years during which I was undiagnosed, but knew something was very wrong with me.  I had severe up and downs. I had long periods of extreme exhilaration where I would be super charged and energetic. I could stay up for days at a time working.  These times were followed by periods of terrible depression where I would stay in bed in the dark for days at a time speaking to no one, not eating, and having no energy.  I took drugs. I was self-medicating, I later learned, and I had many other behaviors that go with this condition.

I attributed my condition to what had happened to me as a youngster, when I lost my mother, ended up in a foster home, and was sexually abused. My obsession with finding my mother and knowing her name drove my existence for many years. I finally found her, but my condition did not change. Later after some period of remission, I was diagnosed as bipolar after a suicide attempt.  Hospitalization, therapy and medication changed my life.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What inspired you to create a work of nonfiction?

Author: My life story was interesting enough that I thought it would make good nonfiction.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: How did you develop your idea for this book?

Author: My concept to play the story off against a female alter ego Carlotta came about because, like many mentally ill people and normal people too, I carry on a silent dialogue in my head on most experiences I have.  There is me and there is someone commenting on what I do. I decided to give that person a real character and personality in this book.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: What can we look forward to in your next book?

Author: I am not sure. The concept of the Art Dockuments is still in flux. Originally the work was going to be like a play in four acts and so many scenes.  The four acts are: The Manifesto, The Community Gallery, The Art Olympics, and The Business of Art.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Is there anything we haven’t covered that you would like to include?

Author: No, that about covers every thing I can say.

FASCINATING AUTHORS: Thank you for taking the time to be part of this interview!

To learn more about the book and Author, please visit – http://www.bipolarbarebook.com/