Getting Rooted in New Zealand
Jamie Baywood
2013
I seem to be on a bit of an expat memoir mission currently. This is the second book in a month or so that follows a single female moving to a completely new country for a fresh start and new experiences (see also At Least You're in Tuscany). I'm not worried though, I've loved both of them.
Getting Rooted is a hilarious, often filthy (right up my street), honest and really quite uplifting (when you think about it) memoir about Baywood's experiences in New Zealand. The style took some getting used to as it is almost a collection of shorter impressions, sketches and stories rather than a structured, linear memoir. I think, considering the content, this is the best structure for it. Baywood's voice is so distinctive and friendly to the point that it feels like you are sat in a coffee shop having a catch up with her rather than reading her words on paper. Quite a skill that.
I asked Jamie a few questions about the book and her experiences so read on if you fancy...
1. Much of the humour in Getting
Rooted comes from your honesty - were there any experiences you had to psych
yourself up to include?
Publishing
my story was easily the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. I barely slept
the first half of the year worrying what people would think of my book. I still
haven’t told my family or my husband’s family about the book. My life is literally an open book, but Jamie Baywood is a pen name. I
haven’t told my family or husband’s family that I’ve written or published a
book. They think I’m just living in the UK working on a MA in Design studying
book covers.
At the
beginning of the book, I wrote a rather embarrassing and cringe worthy long
list of ex-boyfriends and suitors. It explains why the fact that New Zealand’s population
of 100,000 fewer men than women made New
Zealand an ideal destination for me. I think readers need to remember this
is the dairy of a young, hormonal and confused twenty-something, this is not a
travel guide to New Zealand.
I know it sounds like a crazy reason, but I needed a serious change in my
life and felt I needed to leave the country to do so. I started dating my first
boyfriend when we were fourteen and the relationship ended when I was
twenty-three. I had never dumped someone
and didn’t have the life skills to do so. Between ages twenty-three and
twenty-six, I would only date guys I knew I could dump easily. Not
surprisingly, only dating guys with clear and abundant flaws that were easy to
dump, created a lot of chaos and drama in my life.
When I was twenty-four, I had my second boyfriend who I call Hank, in
real life his named rhymed with Hank. Hank had a drug dealer that sincerely
went by the name Stank. I took Hank to rehab, after that I had a string of
crazy suitors and ex’s. If you had Hank
and Stank in your life, what other choice do you have, but to leave the country
and become an author?
2. You faced some really challenging
and absurd situations. Did writing them down have a therapeutic effect?
While living in New Zealand, I had
funny experiences that I had trouble believing were true. I wrote the stories
down to stay sane. It was absolutely therapeutic. I wrote situations down that were happening
around me and shared them with friends. Most of the book was written as the
events happened; it just took me a few years to work up the nerve to publish.
Publishing my book Getting Rooted in New
Zealand was my way of transforming poison into medicine. I hope that it can
help people that have had bad dating experiences or bad work experiences – make
them laugh and not give up hope.
3. Your book is non-fiction but
readers coming to it blind and without and background knowledge of your journey
could easily mistake it as fiction. Do you mind that? And do you think that is
reflective of your weird and wonderful experiences?
That’s ok
with me. My truth tends to be stranger than fiction, but it is really too weird
to be made up. I had good, bad and weird
experiences in New Zealand and California. Although I hope that I have learnt
from my mistakes, I wouldn’t change anything. My experiences have turned me
into a writer and I am extremely grateful for that. That being said, I would
like to go back to New Zealand and give it another try as a writer.
4. Did performing a monologue for
Thomas Sainsbury encourage you to keep writing about your life?
Yes,
absolutely. I had the opportunity to write and perform for Thomas Sainsbury the
most prolific playwright in New Zealand. I performed a monologue about my jobs
in the Basement Theatre in Auckland. The
funny thing about that experience was Tom kept me separated from the other
performers until it was time to perform. I was under the impression that all
the performers were foreigners giving their experiences in New Zealand. All of the other performers were professional
actors telling stories that weren’t their own. At first I was mortified, but
the audience seemed to enjoy my “performance,” laughing their way through my
monologue. After the shows we would go out and mingle with the audience. People
would ask me how long I had been acting. I would tell them, “I wasn’t acting; I
have to go to work tomorrow and sit next to the girl wearing her dead dog’s
collar around her neck.”
It would be great to return to New Zealand to make Getting Rooted in New Zealand into a TV
show with Thomas Sainsbury.
5. Did you have any intentions of
becoming a writer before moving to New Zealand?
I didn’t start keeping a diary or writing until I moved to New Zealand. I wrote to keep in touch with friends and
family. I saved the emails that
eventually became my book.
My education is in fine arts, I didn’t write until I moved
to New Zealand. I had a lot of art shows in California and New Zealand and even
managed an art collective in Auckland. I was bored with the fine art scene.
Everything has already been done before in painting, but I am the only person
that can tell my own story. Writing feels like a more honest form of art than
any other method I’ve tried.
6. After New Zealand you moved to the
UK - will there be sequels?
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I’d like
to write a prequel and sequel to Getting
Rooted in New Zealand. I plan to divide my books by the countries I’ve lived
in. My next book will be about attempting to settle in Scotland. I plan to
publish it late 2014.
7. And finally, I ask everyone this,
what has your favourite read been this year?
May I Ask You Something? by Cyan Corwine.
Jamie Baywood can be followed on the following sites:
Facebook.com/jamiebaywood
Twitter.com/jamiebaywood
Pinterest.com/jamiebaywood
Thank you to Jamie Baywood for providing me with a copy to review and for answering my questions so brilliantly. Good luck for the next project!
I'm only going to go for level one which is 1-3 books - I don't want to go too far and freak myself out. Some of the big name Russian authors still do scare me half to death. I've got a little list together of some that I would like to read and will pick and chose from there. Still, you never know, I may get caught up in the Russian Lit and head for level two!
Just look at all those Russian authors with their beards!
TBR pile, let's be 'aving you.
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