Life’s Accessories is a window into the many ways in which Lesser has come to understand life—in all of its beauty, its joys, its sorrows, its heartaches, its challenges, and its absurdity.
We had the pleasure of chatting to Rachel Levy Lesser about her upcoming novel, Life’s Accessories: A Memoir, which releases on November 5th. In her memoir, Rachel tackles sensitive issues like anxiety, illness, and loss, but she chats to us about why she wanted to write it, her writing process, book recommendations, and more.
Hi Rachel! Tell us a little about yourself!
I’m an author, a reader, a yogi, a baker, a knitter (scarves only) and a not very good golfer. My newest book Life’s Accessories: A Memoir (And Fashion Guide) will be released this fall and I am more excited about it than just about anything else I’ve ever done (besides marrying my husband, having my kids and winning color war at camp in 1990.) In my former life, I worked in marketing for some of my most favorite magazines including People, InStyle and Real Simple. Life’s Accessories is my fourth book. I’ve written essays and articles for a whole host of publications including The Huffington Post, Kveller, Modern Loss, Glamour.com, Parenting.com and Scary Mommy.
Your memoir, Life’s Accessories, publishes on November 5th. If you could only use one sentence to pitch it, what would it be?
Life’s Accessories is a coming of age memoir written in 14 chapters/essays, and in each essay a fashion item is used as a lens by which I have come to see and understand life — in all of its beauty, its joys, its sorrows, its heartaches, its challenges, and its absurdity.
Let’s hear a little more! What can readers expect?
Here are a couple reviews from early readers which I guess can tell you more about what readers can expect:
“In fluid, engaging prose, Rachel Levy Lesser draws readers into her episodic coming-of-age from prep school student to mature mother and writer — accessorized charmingly throughout by symbolic talismans. Through grieving for her lost mother, she exudes a palpable joie de vivre, attracting a lively coterie, including us who read as Best Friends Forever.”
“Rachel Levy Lesser had me on page one. Her storytelling is heartfelt, engrossing, entertaining, and as addictive as reading a friend’s diary. Life’s Accessories, will undoubtedly leave readers wanting Lesser to add to her collection.”
I think that readers can expect to laugh a little and cry a bit too when they read Life’s Accessories. They will read about the highs and lows in my life and I think learn something about their own lives, which I think is what makes memoir so great, or at least that is the feeling I have had after reading so many memorable memoirs.
What made you want to sit down and write Life’s Accessories?
Life’s Accessories is my fourth book, but probably the one that I’ve had in me the longest. It just took me a while to get these ideas out of my head and on to paper in a way that made sense to me and to my future readers. I didn’t think I had another memoir in me, but as I found myself one day thinking about my life now as a middle aged happy, self-actualized, grownup woman, I wondered how I got here from the mess of a girl I was in my 20s when my mother was diagnosed with cancer and died. I started to reflect back on my relationship with my mom, and with so many other people that have come in and out of my life and this became the basis for the book. At the time, I was writing for various publications and realized that I often wrote about fashion or items in my closet to tell a story, and I have this weird memory where I can remember everything I ever wore for a significant moment in my life. I soon understood that these items could serve as a framework for this coming age memoir (and fashion guide.)
Were there any particular parts that challenged you while writing?
It was hard for me to go back and revisit the painful moments from when my mom was diagnosed and I wasn’t dealing with life so well as I became anxious and depressed. I had to re-examine these experiences and be completely honest with myself. It also wasn’t so fun to visit the nightmare that I let myself become in 8th grade when I got a perm and had trouble fitting in anywhere, or when my college boyfriend dumped me and I had a minor breakdown in front of the David Sculpture in Florence, or when I worked for two crazy bosses at a magazine company in New York City, both of whom were escorted out of the building by security. I cringe now even thinking about some of these moments even after I have examined them in some detail in the book.
What’s your writing process like?
When I am working on a book, I really try and write every day. I am up early and get to my computer with a cup of coffee to get a couple hours in at my desk at home. At some point, later in the day I usually find myself at my local Starbucks sometimes to write more and sometimes to revisit what I already wrote. The change of scenery is good for me and so is the regular schedule of writing every day. When a book is in the editing process or pre-promotion phase, I can then take a break from book writing to work on essays and articles. I like the variety of writing long form (books) and short form (essays.)
What do you hope readers will take away from your memoir?
I hope readers will learn from my life experiences and also reflect on their own lives — those they’ve already had and those that are still to come. I have heard from early readers that this is the case. Perhaps my readers get a few fashion tips as well?!
What’s next for you?
Right now, I am busy doing pre-press for Life’s Accessories and planning for the book tour, which starts in a few weeks. I started writing a new book last year — my first work of fiction, but I had to take a break from that to work on the press for this book, and write essays in conjunction with promotion of Life’s Accessories. I am looking forward to getting back to writing fiction after this book tour. I miss the characters I started to write about last year. They feel a bit like my imaginary friends who I get to play with as I write about their experiences and develop them as characters.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?
So many! I think that all writers are readers first. Here are a few book recs (in no particular order) No Happy Endings, Wild, Lake Success, Little Fires Everywhere, The Long Goodbye, Eleonor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Educated, The Cast, Rules of Inheritance
Rachel Levy Lesser can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
