Novelist Cynthia Sweeney on getting your big creative break at mid-life

“I thought that if things were hard it somehow meant that you shouldn’t be doing them. I think that was a youthful notion.” –Cynthia Sweeney

Cynthia Sweeney (@CynthiaDSweeney) is an American author, whose debut novel, The Nest, was a New York Times bestseller.

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf speaks with Cynthia about therapy and hugging (2:00); career changes, writing her first novel, and the benefits of obtaining an MFA (6:30); writing tactics (21:15); starting a career in writing later in life (27:00); signing a seven-figure advance for her debut novel, and navigating the resulting expectations (34:00); writing in different genres, and the process of adapting a novel into a screenplay (46:40); the idea of talent, and its relationship to hard work within the creative process (57:00).

For more information on Cynthia Sweeney, you can visit her website, https://www.cynthia-sweeney.com/.

Topics discussed:

• Esther Perel podcast
• UCLA Extension (writing program)
• MFA in Writing at Bennington (graduate program)
• Scriptnotes podcast advice for MFA degrees
• Poets & Writers (magazine)
• UCB Theater (improv program)
• John Irving’s The World According to Garp (novel)
• Six by Sondheim (documentary)
• Memento Mori (theory of mortality)
• “Tell me why I shouldn’t hate you” interview with Cynthia

People mentioned:

• Bret Antony Johnston (author)
• Peter Ames Carlin (author)
• Amy Poehler (actress and comedian)
• Conan O’Brien (TV host and comedian)
• Jill Soloway (writer/director)
• Henry Dunow (book agent)
• George R.R. Martin (author)
• Dennis Lehane (author)
• Stephen Sondheim (Broadway composer)
• Gillian Flynn (author who adapted her own novel for the screen)

This episode was sponsored by the Paris Writing Workshop, an intensive one-month course in the artistic heart of Europe.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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