Today’s podcast episode is a Book Award Winner episode, where we get to know a writer who won the NAIWE Book Award.
Our guest today is Erin Berkery.
Erin Berkery is a freelance writer, creative career advisor, and consultant with a passion for helping people both with their creative life and blending their creative lifestyles and the rest of their life. Erin writes content for companies, career development articles, and creative fiction that is quite humorous despite those previous two categories. She has recently published a book called: How Not to Make Small Talk, which won the NAIWE 2023 Book Award in Coffee Table books.
You recently had your book How Not to Make Small Talk published, which is in the humor and coffee table genres. To get an idea of what your book is about, I would like to read the book’s description to the listeners:
How Not to Make Small Talk is an anti self-help guide, where instead of showing people how to do something well, Erin shows you how not to do something well. How Not to Make Small Talk blends humor and ridiculousness to deliver the worst possible solutions to common blunders in everyday conversations. Featuring topics that should be off limits, suggestions that are slightly horrible, and lists of alternatives for any conversation.
When did you first have the idea for this book? And what inspired you to actually write this book?
After I had a baby, I had a lot of people who would say things to me in conversation that felt inappropriate, but they acted as if we were just talking about the weather. I realized that while they weren’t making a faux pas, that nobody had ever given guidance on how to make small talk. I then realized that I had no business giving anyone advice, but still was having ideas of conversation starters that would be better than the discussions I was having, so How Not to Make Small Talk was born.
Why did you decide to write and publish this book now?
I am a writer who writes a lot but doesn’t finish a lot of books, so when this book started to feel less than half baked I wanted to make it my goal to finish it and I did. I wish I could say that I timed it for something special, but the truth is that I was fairly proud of having it be completed.
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