JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Paloma Corredor, author of La gestión del yo
(Editorial Círculo rojo)
This is a story of love and self-help.
Three women: Alicia, Violeta and Diana. A man, Jorge. One goal: the pursuit of happiness in these times of obsession with “me”.
It all begins when Alicia, as the heroine created by Lewis Carroll, dives into the bewildering and attractive world of workshops and books about personal growth. A world ruled by the law of attraction, which says that “the secret” to get anything is to desire it ardently, and that the only obstacle in the way is the ego, with its limitations and requirements.
Alicia, tired of her boring life, wants to find happiness within and love without expecting anything in return, as does Violeta. The problem is that both women choose the same man, Jorge. The same one that Diana left years ago to choose a conventional marriage.
But things get complicated when the liberal Violeta tries to seduce Alicia.
Is happiness really a state of mind that does not depend on others?
If true love is unconditional, would you accept that the man you love also loves other women?
Those are the dilemmas faced by Alicia…
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write La gestión del yo ?
Paloma Corredor: Here and there. I find inspiration everywhere when I’m writing!
In this case, I was working as a personal growth journalist at that time, and I always ended up listening to the same message: “True love is unconditional. Happines is within yourself”. So I wondered, “What happens when you try to love a partner unconditionally? Is that possible? And if you can’t, does it mean you don’t have a clue about what true happiness is?”
I also wanted to show that “the secret” of the law of attraction can’t work properly when you don’t really love yourself and you are driven by your ego. Gurus and masters should be very careful when talking about it. And some writers take advantage of people’s dissatisfaction by selling them “presctiptions for quick happines”.
I think true happiness starts when you accept yourself exactly the way you are, with your light and shadow. Then you won’t force yourself to love someone else even if he treats you badly just because you’ve read at a self-help book that love means giving without expecting anything in return.
JP: What sets La gestión del yo apart from other books in the same genre?
PC: Well, I’ve never read a novel written in Spanish about polyamory and personal growth.
I think those are very interesting topics that allowed me to write and reflect about self-esteem, love and relationships. These issues are very common in self-help books. But mine is a novel, it shows a story and I’m sure many readers (especially women) will relate to the characters. They are not archetypes, and there is no moral.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that led to La gestión del yo getting out to the public?
PC: Word-of-Mouth, Facebook, Twitter, my website, interviews, reviews in magazines… Some blogs have written excellent reviews too.
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take you to start and finish La gestión del yo ?
PC: To be honest, I write fiction when I can. I’m a freelancer and work for several magazines and websites. I wish I had more free time.
It took me a long time to finish this book because I used to write for months, then I stopped and started again several times. Writing means facing your own shadow. So sometimes you can find a thousand excuses for not starting! But once I do, it’s pure pleasure and time flies.
JP: What’s next for Paloma Corredor?
PC: I’m finishing my second novel about the friendship of two teenagers who are forced to spend the summer at a horrible village by the sea with their families. No friends, no internet, no whatsapp… It’s 1986! In this case, it’s the girl who falls for the boy and he’s the one who doesn’t care about her. A bit sad, but encouraging at the end.
And I can’t wait to finish my own children’s picture book, as I’m an illustrator too. It will soon be ready.
Then I’ll start a new novel inspired by my life in London, where I lived for a while.
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Thank you for giving me the change to get to new readers. Everytime someone tells me he or she loved my book it encourages me to keep on writing.
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