RIANNA SEELIG
Special to The Leader
No matter the major, the looming question of what to do as an “official adult” after graduation plagues everyone at one point or another. Luckily, there is proof of success everywhere, including Fredonia alumna Wendy Corsi Staub.
Staub graduated from Fredonia in 1986 and has gone on to write over 80 novels during a thriving career, which spans over two decades. She earned a place on the New York Times Bestselling list with her psychological suspense novels, and continues to be featured in locations such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and USA Today. A brief chat with Staub gave further insight about her experience at Fredonia, her life as a writer, and her ever-growing list of published works.
Fredonia offers an abundance of writing opportunities, such as a writing minor, Writer’s Ring and the newly-retired Visiting Writers Program. When asked about the writing opportunities that benefitted her most on-campus, Staub replied, “I had never been in a writing workshop until my first day at Fredonia, when I walked into Dr. Lunde’s Creative Writing class.”
Lunde’s class provided the foundation that Staub needed to become a blossoming writer.
“There, I learned not just writing mechanics, but the importance of giving and taking constructive criticism, which benefited me not just as an author, but in my career as an editor at a New York publishing house … I learned to temper negative feedback on others’ work with positive [feedback], and I learned to have a thick skin when my work was critiqued.”
Staub earned the title of “New York Times Bestseller” thanks to her various psychological suspense novels. She spent a great deal of time during her undergrad working at the Book Nook — an independent bookstore in Fredonia — and there learned an appreciation and admiration for books with distinguishing characteristic of being a NYT bestseller.
“I vowed that one day, I would be among them,” said Staub. “So achieving New York Times bestselling status wasn’t just a dream come true — it was a very specific goal achieved.”
After numerous works being optioned by Hollywood and some never making it to the big screen, Staub landed a film deal for her novel “Hello, It’s Me.” She joked about the unconventional manner in which she heard the big news:
“In a funny twist, I found out about the movie through Kellie Martin, the actress starring as my heroine, whom I’ve known for a few years. She’d read the script and accepted the role without realizing that Wendy Markham was the same person as me,” Staub said.
“So suddenly I get an email saying ‘Guess who’s starring in your movie that starts shooting May 11?’ My first reaction was — WHAT movie? My second reaction was — May 11 was the tenth anniversary of my mother’s death from breast cancer,” continued Staub. “The book “Hello, It’s Me” was released a few weeks before she died, and when my book tour took me to Western New York, she was there. She read and loved the book and said she thought it would make a great movie”.
To conclude the interview, Staub gave some advice to the aspiring writers of Fredonia:
“You can choose to write for yourself, purely for the joy and art of the writing process, or you can choose to write for an audience and try to make money at it. Either path is perfectly acceptable, but remember that writing isn’t a means to get rich quick — or get rich at all.”
Staub is quick to point out the dangers of pursuing a career, any career, solely for the promise of a healthy income. Passion, clearly seen in her statement, should be at the root of the career you pursue. While it is fine to seek financial stability, loving what you do will often benefit one more in the long-run.
“Either way, you need a day job,” Staub continued. “I meet lots of aspiring writers who are editors, or bookstore associates, or librarians or English teachers. They’re paying the bills and write when they can. They all have one thing in common: they work really, really hard, they’re realistic and they grasp that a writing career means spending every single day alone in a room with your thoughts and your keyboard.”
Staub will be on tour in Western New York over the next two months. Her upcoming novel, “Blood Red”, is the first in a new series and will be released on September 29th. Later, in the month of October, another first book in a new series will be released on the 27th titled “Nine Lives.”
For her parting words, Staub gave some wise words concerning finding peace in one’s writing:
“If you choose to write simply because you are passionate about it, then embrace the creativity and make it a part of your daily life, whether you’re keeping a journal, scribbling poems, writing a blog,” Staub said. “Writing has always been cathartic. I have to write, or I am not comfortable in my own skin.”