{"id":30698,"date":"2013-03-15T11:07:27","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T00:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=30698"},"modified":"2016-03-01T09:46:17","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T23:46:17","slug":"mary-lou-stephen-author-of-sex-drugs-and-meditation-answers-ten-terrifying-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2013\/03\/15\/mary-lou-stephen-author-of-sex-drugs-and-meditation-answers-ten-terrifying-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary-Lou Stephens, author of Sex, Drugs and Meditation, answers Ten Terrifying Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Booktopia Book Guru asks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary-Lou Stephens<\/h1>\n

author of Sex, Drugs and Meditation<\/em><\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ten Terrifying Questions<\/h2>\n

———————–<\/p>\n

1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was born and raised in that part of Australia that\u2019s often left off the map and in true Tasmanian style headed off to the big smoke as soon as it was a legal option. I hung out with drug dealers in Kings Cross until someone I knew was murdered. After that I ran back to Hobart to play bass in bands, it was safer.<\/p>\n

For three years I studied acting at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne which helped me to realise that I preferred playing in bands. After years of being a singer\/songwriter in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney I retrained in radio at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Radio is perfect, it combines my performance skills with a love of music and gives my insatiable curiosity a valid outlet. And I get paid more than I ever did as an actor or a musician.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was twelve I wanted to be liked. I always felt like an outsider.<\/p>\n

At eighteen I wanted to be Jean-Jacques Burnel from The Stranglers.<\/p>\n

At thirty I wanted to be a famous and well paid singer\/songwriter instead of an obscure poor one.<\/p>\n

3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought I was immortal, that nothing could kill me; not drugs, not knives, not dark alleys at the back of the Cross.<\/p>\n

4. What were three works of art \u2013 book or painting or piece of music, etc \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was in high school we studied Saul Bellow\u2019s Henderson the Rain King<\/a>. It was unlike anything I\u2019d ever read before. It confounded, frustrated and astounded me. It stretched my heart and my mind.<\/p>\n

Seeing The Stranglers<\/em> at the State Theatre in Sydney in 1979. I turned to the punk next to me and asked \u201cWhat\u2019s that sound?\u201d He sneered at me, he was a punk after all, and said, \u201cThat\u2019s the bass guitar.\u201d I decided in that moment that I would become a bass player. From being a bass player I became a song writer. The lyrics to three of my songs are in Sex, Drugs and Meditation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sigur Ros<\/em>, from Iceland. Listening to their music is like being in a cathedral made of ice and vines. I have written whole scenes of my unpublished novel inspired by this band. Two of my main characters and thousands of other characters become entwined in the epic beauty of their songs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel as though I\u2019ve lived many lives already; as a bass player, an actor, a singer\/songwriter, touring the country with bands. A friend of mine once asked me why all the good stuff happened to me, why I had such an interesting life while he was stuck in a small town in a small job. I told him it was because I said, \u201cYes.\u201d Yes to adventures and opportunities and new experiences. I never had any money but I did what ever I wanted. I lived like a 17 year old boy with a driver\u2019s licence and no responsibilities. When my last band broke up and I realised I was in fact a 36 year old woman, radio was there to embrace me.<\/p>\n

After working in radio for a while I had enough money to go to the USA and visit the places where much of the music I loved was made. When I came back my friends asked to see the photos. I hardly had any. I\u2019d only taken twelve on a disposable camera. A colleague at the ABC suggested I write about my travels instead. I haven\u2019t stopped writing since.<\/p>\n

6. Please tell us about your latest book\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary-Lou\u2019s dream job has become a nightmare. She knows Eliott Purvis, her young, ambitious, sociopathic boss, will not change. If Mary-Lou is to be free of the anguish and keep the job she loves, there is only one thing she can change. Herself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ten days of silent meditation is the solution she chooses. During these ten days Mary-Lou is forced to confront the demons of her past; drugs, alcohol, food and religion. She also has to deal with the demons in her mind; paranoia, self-hate, fear and murderous rage. She relives her time spent in Twelve Step programs, her years at acting school, the joy and heartbreak of her former life as a musician and the journey that led her to work in radio.<\/p>\n

For ten days and nights she battles her memories, mistakes and fantasies. The rigours demanded by the long hours spent meditating result in excruciating physical pain. The overcoming of this pain enables her to understand, on every level, the basic tenet of the meditation technique \u2013 everything changes.<\/p>\n

She is shocked when an old wound she thought had healed demands her complete attention. A relationship so wracked with obsession and betrayal it destroyed her ability to trust. Through the eleven hours of meditation a day she finally releases the resentment and blame and comes to a place of forgiveness.<\/p>\n

When Mary-Lou returns to work the challenges remain, but she went to the meditation centre to change herself, not her job, and the results are surprising. At a dinner party a week later, despite all her best efforts and worst habits, Mary-Lou meets the man she will marry.<\/p>\n

Click here to buy\u00a0Sex, Drugs and Meditation from Booktopia,
\nAustralia\u2019s Local Bookstore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sex, Drugs and Meditation<\/em> is a story of transformation. It\u2019s the story of a woman who is at breaking point and very close to losing all hope. I went and sat in pain and silence for ten days and things changed. I changed. I\u2019d like people to recognise that there is hope, no matter how dark things seem. I\u2019d like them to consider meditation as a possibility for creating that change. But more than anything I\u2019d like them to enjoy a really good read and feel uplifted after they\u2019ve turned the last page, knowing that anything is possible.<\/p>\n

8. Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyone who finishes writing a book. So many people say they want to write a book, some may even start, but to those who start, stick with it and finish it – I admire you, even if you never get published.<\/p>\n

As far as published writers are concerned this is a tough one for me. Books pass through my hands like water. I have a regular books and writing segment on ABC Local Radio and I read like a fiend. It\u2019s important to me that I read the book before I interview the author, which I\u2019m told is rare. I admire every author I interview because their lives are usually ones of tenacity and inspiration, hard slog and brilliance.<\/p>\n

9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to inspire people to know that change is possible. I\u2019d like my books to give people hope as well as being a really great read. The book I\u2019m writing at the moment is the sequel to Sex, Drugs and Meditatio<\/em>n. It\u2019s the truth about my happy ever after; the story of how I stayed married – against all odds. I\u2019d love to see this book in print, as well as the novel I\u2019ve written and the many others I have planned. Much as I love my work in radio, one of my ambitions is to make a living from writing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to assume that most aspiring writers are already reading voraciously and writing compulsively, those being the basic building blocks of a writer. So my advice is to get yourself some writing buddies. People who will become your allies and your cheer squad. Friends who will give you honest feedback when you\u2019re feeling strong and heap praise upon your writing when you\u2019re feeling vulnerable.<\/p>\n

A writing group who evolve together and whose bonds strengthen as the years go by. Writing can be lonely and people who don\u2019t write often can\u2019t understand why you won\u2019t go out on Saturday because you have to write or why you spend so much time doing something that may never see the light of day. Your writing buddies will get it and they\u2019ll get you.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be lonely, there\u2019s no need to feel misunderstood. A small writing group of like-minded souls to encourage and to challenge your writing is the balm to soothe and sweeten this writing life.<\/p>\n

Mary-Lou, thank you for playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Click here to buy\u00a0Sex, Drugs and Meditation from Booktopia,
\nAustralia\u2019s Local Bookstore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Mary-Lou Stephens author of Sex, Drugs and Meditation Ten Terrifying Questions ———————– 1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? I was born and raised in that part of Australia that\u2019s often left off the map and in true Tasmanian style headed off to the big smoke as soon as it was a legal option. I hung out with drug dealers in Kings Cross until someone I knew was murdered. After that I ran back to Hobart to play bass in bands, it was safer. For three years I studied acting at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne which helped me to realise that I preferred playing in bands. After years of being a singer\/songwriter in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney I retrained in radio at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Radio is perfect, it combines my performance skills with a love of music and gives my insatiable curiosity a valid outlet. And I get paid more than I ever did as an actor or a musician. 2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4,84],"tags":[3556,5184],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56954,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698\/revisions\/56954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}