Girls Like Us Interview with Randi Pink
Questions
1. How did you come up with the story of Girls Like Us?
I naturally gravitate toward the elderly. Even as a small child in a room filled with small
children, I’d slyly ease in the direction of the lone grandmother in the corner. Or even
better, great-grandmother. I was a strange child with strange interests – world wars,
political methodology, and the historical significance of the world’s troubles. Barbies
were of no interest. They were simply molded plastic as far as I was concerned--still
are.
Within those candid discussions with mostly southern black women in their eighties, the
topic of motherhood would inevitably arise, followed by the woes of too many damn
children to feed (sometimes more than ten), and then followed by the topic of female
death in the southern backwoods. In retrospect, I was probably too young to hear those
stories, but many of the ladies spoke as if they had little time, and even less audience,
to share their rich histories with. And I, barely a teenager, listened. I didn’t fully
understand, but still, I listened with my whole heart.
So, I did not come up with the story of Girls Like Us. Prior to Roe v. Wade becoming
law, the fictional stories of Izella, Ola, Missippi, and Sue lived as nonfiction within
thousands of girls with no choices, and tragically, sometimes died within them, too. I
simply heeded the wisest of women and never dared forget what they told me.
2. What character do you like from your own book?
The answer to this question changes when the wind blows, but today, Mrs. Mac is my
favorite character in Girls Like Us. She’s elderly when we meet her, but sometimes I
dream of Mrs. Mac as a young black girl growing up in the 1800s, born clairvoyant and
illegitimate in a superstitious, complicated, and mostly unspeakable world. She was a
commodity, used for her psychic abilities, but also an embarrassment, due to the
circumstances of her birth.
Something happened to Mrs. Mac early in life. Something horrible enough to turn her
into what she is when she reaches the pages of Girls Like Us. No one gets to the end of
life with so much hatred unless they’ve been burnt at their most vulnerable.
Mrs. Mac represents the most easily hated among us, but there’s likely a deeply scarred
heart in there somewhere.
3. Which scene was the hardest to write in this novel?
I found it hard to write Walter. War took his innocence, and knowingly writing that was a
daunting task.
4. What is the message that you are trying to send out to the readers?
Readers bring whole worlds of backstories to every book they read. Their interpretations
are circumstantial, and for that reason, I steer clear of packaged messages. But if I have
a singular message for every reader, it’s to take the time to listen to the stories of your
elders. Their advice is forged through experience. Their internal strength immovable
from years of being pushed around and ultimately deciding never again. So message: if
you’re still lucky enough to have them, call your damn grandparents!
5. Where can they purchase Girls Like Us?
Anywhere books are sold on October 29th !!!
About You:
1. What is your favorite vacation spot?
I always enjoy Seattle! My favorite aspect of the city is the trolley running back and forth
from one side to the other. I ride it back and forth for hours and hours. Also, they have
outstanding thrift stores!
2. What is your favorite quote and why?
“They possessed power because we gave them power, not because they were worthy
of it,” Randi Pink, INTO WHITE.
First of all, boss move for quoting myself as my favorite quote, right? Secondly, the
‘they’ in the sentence is interchangeable for me. So many times in my life, I’ve given
power to the loudest person in the room. Or to the flashiest, or even to the bully for their
false, undeserving dominance. The quote helps remind me not to do that.
3. If a famous author could be your mentor, who would it be?
Maya Angelou.
4. What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I garden quite a lot. Gardening gives me hope that even dry, shriveled things come back
when planted in the right soil.
5. Do you have any tips for writers?
Even the strongest willed writer will be crushed by the pain of her first bad evaluations.
Sometimes they’re personal, be prepared for that. Sometimes they come for your
abilities, be prepared for that, too. Sometimes they sniff out the softest quadrant of your
heart and poke their fingers deep in there until you want to quit. When you’re in that
place, imagine yourself climbing the highest mountain with wind and snow and sleet
stinging your exposed body. You’re in the place where one step feels like a thousand
and giving up would be the easiest thing to do.
The most powerful tip I can give is to write through it. It doesn’t really matter what you’re
writing in that place as long as you’re writing. With pursed lips and cramped index
fingers, STILL, write forward. And truly, you never know what will come of it! My strange
web series, Front Desk Woman, was born in such a place, and now I have Monday
morning readers chomping at the bit for the next weekly installment.
