First novel
Journalist Cari Scribner uses humor in story about divorced mom’s dating exploits.
Author Cari Scribner is one of those people who refuse to give up. She has wanted to be a writer since she was in third grade when her teacher at Blue Creek Elementary School, part of the North Colonie School District, told her she wrote the best essays in the class. “That teacher took me aside and said I was going to be a writer,” said Scribner. “I believed her. She was my teacher.”
She eventually attended The College of Saint Rose where she majored in journalism and minored in creative writing.
“While there I wrote everything, a screenplay, haikus, even advertising copy. The writing classes were very specific, but I found the conciseness of journalism to be my calling.”
Through the years Scribner has written freelance for most of the newspapers and magazines in the Capital District, including the Times Union, but at night she would often write fiction for its creativity and fun. As her three children got older, she became much more serious about her fiction and began submitting stories to literary magazines around the country.
“I’ve now published 16 short stories. I never give up on them. One of the short stories was rejected 35 times, but I felt it had a home somewhere so I kept sending it out till it found the right place.”
All of that perseverance and hard work has paid off with the recent publication of her first novel “A Girl Like You." It can be found at Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, The Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza, and Market Block Books in Troy.
“I sent that manuscript to over 100 agents and publishers, and no one wanted to take a look at it. I never wanted to give up on it though. I was fortunate to find this small publisher in Portland, Ore., and they immediately fell in love with the story.
I knew many people could relate to this story. It’s such a modern universal tale of a woman finding herself.”
The main character of her novel, 56-year-old Jessica Gabriel, is a twice-divorced mother of two adult children who in the beginning of the book is deeply depressed and lonely. She decides to take a dull job in her town to make some money. To alleviate her loneliness she joins an online dating service.
“Anyone who has been dating recently will relate to this book,” she said from her home in Ballston Spa. “People in relationships upon reading this book will be glad they’re with someone. I’ve done my share of online dating over the years, and it really is as bad as I portray it in the book. The experience strips you down to your core.”
Scribner has been quarantining alone. “I’m currently not dating and not on any of the sites anymore. I can’t do it. It’s too demeaning and superficial. How can you describe who you are in an appealing way in one paragraph? Should you be honest? Do you exaggerate? How careful do you need to be? People often put up photos that are 20 years old so when you go to meet them you don’t recognize who they are.”
Like the character in her book, Scribner also kept a sense of humor about the entire online
dating process. “I’ve always been able to laugh about how miserable it is to meet someone today. These days you don’t easily bump in to someone at the grocery store or gym. Everyone’s busy, rushing around, on their phones, texting. There’s no eye contact.”
In her novel, and after all her dating disasters, Jessica begins to fully appreciate all she has-her best friend Eddie, her two children, and even the eccentric old guys where she works. She especially loves her small dog, Penny. “Penny always wants to be picked up. That’s tactile love. Dogs love you regardless if anyone else does at the moment.
You can feel totally unlovable, flawed and messed up, but your pet will always love you. I believe it’s the most pure love in the universe.”
Scribner knows many people will think this book is autobiographical, and she also knows some of the graphic sexual encounters may turn some readers off. She admits there are some instances in the book where art imitates life, "but the stories are definitely exaggerated composites of things that have happened to me. No one will read this book and say I recognize myself in there.”
She also said some readers may feel she has gone too far with some of the explicit sexual descriptions. “My mother read the book and said she blushed, but Jessica’s sexual exploration was just as important as her emotional and intellectual journey. I threw myself into it and tried to keep it funny with some of Jessica’s internal thoughts during the escapades. Pushing her own sexual limits is very important to the story, and when she decides she’s not comfortable doing something, that’s very empowering.”
Scribner knows this book would never have been written without the help of the New York State Writers Institute. “I attended numerous writing workshops given by the organization. They get hundreds of applicants for those workshops and just to be accepted is a huge boost for your ego.”
The workshops motivated her and also taught her how to handle criticism. “People read your work and discuss it like you aren’t there. It can be brutal. My teachers Lydia Davis, James Lasdun and Doug Glover were always encouraging, read some of my work on the side and even gave me the names of some agents and publishers to contact.”
She is currently more than 100 pages into the sequel. “I’m calling it ‘A Place Like This,’ and it’s coming along very well. Jess is now an Uber driver, which allows her to meet a whole new cast of characters. She’s as funny as ever, and she’s still
dating.”