We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful G. M. Lupo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with G. M. below.

Alright, G. M. thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

Perhaps my worst perceived failure is my time in New York between 1989 and 1994. I say “perceived” because there were a lot of positive experiences related to my life there, I earned my Masters degree, established my independence, and somehow managed to survive for five years with little support and not nearly enough income. Ultimately, though, I regard it as failure due to the lack of planning that went into my time there and the absence of any sort of Plan B when things started going wrong. New York can be a very unforgiving city under the best of circumstances, and traveling there with no means of support, hardly any funds, with no one around to assist if I had problems, increased the odds that I’d encounter difficulties. New York had been a dream of mine for quite a while, and when I graduated from Georgia State University in 1987, I set my sights on attending New York University, an expensive private school I really couldn’t afford. Getting there was a struggle in itself, since my initial application was lost in the mail, and my second attempt to start school there had to be deferred since I’d missed the deadline to apply for housing and couldn’t afford an apartment with no job. I had resolved that if I wasn’t able to get started on my third try, I was going to stop trying. At the time, the economy in New York wasn’t very good and the jobs I found at the University didn’t pay enough to cover all my bills. I’ve never been very adept at managing my finances, and my solution to everything at the time was to charge as much as I could to my credit cards, which only exacerbated my financial ills. Perhaps my biggest mistake was moving into an apartment by myself after having problems dealing with my roommate. I found one that was less expensive than others I could have rented, but still way outside my budget. As often happens, I allowed my impatience to guide me into acting quickly, rather than formulating a plan and executing it intelligently. In the end, the financial problems led to my becoming isolated and depressed, and the only viable solution I was able to determine was to head home to Atlanta and try to get things back together there. The Olympics were coming, and I felt I had better prospects there. Still, I don’t regret my time in New York, I only wish I had exercised better judgment in my decision making and been more sensible in how I deal with problems that arose.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a native of Atlanta and have always had what I term a dysfunctional relationship with my hometown. This eventually led me to move to Perry, in Middle Georgia (about two hours south of Atlanta) where I currently reside, near where my father’s family lived almost two hundred years ago. I started writing in elementary school, and studied writing at Georgia State University and New York University. My most recent published work is the story collection Reconstruction (2020), part of my series of Atlanta Stories, which includes Fables of the New South (2017). Along with my novel, Rebecca, Too (2018), and my play, Another Mother, these constitute what I call my Expanded Universe of Fictional Atlanta. I have also released a collection of essays, poetry, and stories entitled Words Words Words (2020). I currently have a work in progress called Worthy, which will continue the stories found in Fables, Reconstruction, and Rebecca. I’m also in the process of revising and reissuing my series (currently out of print) The Long Timer Chronicles, which are sci-fi/fantasy novels about people who live extremely long lives.
Most recent performances of my scripted work include short plays On a Wing and a Prayer in June 2022, and Romance Take Two in August 2021, both performed at Academy Theatre in Hapeville, GA as part of their Tapas series. My ten-minute play Opposites Detract premiered at Amplifest, Merely Players Presents in Doraville, GA in May 2019, Merely Players Presents also sponsored a reading of my full-length works in progress, Rebecca, Too, and Phoenix Rising: Christine, both in 2020, via Zoom.
Perhaps my proudest accomplishment was having my full-length play, Another Mother, selected as the winner of the 2017 Essential Theatre Play Writing Award. Another Mother had its world premiere in my home neighborhood of West End in August 2017, in the building that once housed the library where I learned to read as a child.
In the 1990s, I served as president of the Atlanta Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) and was recognized as one of the top local presidents in the state of Georgia at their year-end gathering.
I’m a member of the Dramatists Guild, Merely Writers, and the Independent Book Publishers Association and can be found on the web at http://gmlupo.com, and my author profile at Amazon is located at https://amazon.com/author/gmlupo. I can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube as gmatt63.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

From a professional standpoint, I wish I had the resources of groups like the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) earlier in my writing career, especially when I was establishing my publishing business. In addition to negotiated discounts on a variety of resources, they also sponsor webinars and courses designed to help indie authors and publishers learn their craft.

For playwriting resources, I’ve found the New Play Exchange (NPX) to be a good resource for connecting with opportunities for submitting work and reading the work of other playwrights.

A resource I wish I learned to utilize sooner was the writing workshop. There’s a phenomenon I call “writing for the workshop” which I’ve been guilty of myself. Basically, the writer begins to anticipate how others in the group will critique a work and tailor his/her writing to garner comments rather than improving the writing. Nowadays, I listen to the comments with an ear toward determining if the readers are getting the message I’m trying to send. I use the feedback to inform how successful I am at conveying an idea, regardless of whether the comment is constructive, negative, or positive.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Telling a story. I think too many writers get bogged down with making statements or trying to be edgy, without thinking about the story being conveyed. A good story can become a metaphor for a larger situation or issue, but at its heart, it should convey a simple tale that’s relatable to the reader’s life and times. If the writer is skillful enough, more can be said than what appears on the page and the reader can come away from the experience with a better understanding of the human condition. I hear a lot of theories about the function of literature in society, but in my view, storytelling is paramount.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gmlupo.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/gmatt63
• Facebook: Facebook.com/gmatt63
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/gmlupo
• Twitter: twitter.com/gmatt63
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/gmatt63
• Other: https://amazon.com/author/gmlupo Tumblr.com/gmatt63

Image Credits
G. M. Lupo