An interview with Cammarata
By MIKE BELLIZZI, CHAD GAMBOA, SCOTT LAWSON, and KAYLA MATTEO
Newsroom
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 25, 2011
After meeting with students at the Fun Fair, Cammarata spoke with the newsroom class in the William Randolph Hearst Center for Communications and Interactive Media to discuss what she feels are the most important aspects on writing.
Cammarata advised the students in the class to follow their intuition; as well as stressing the importance of their connection with the audience, staying on track, and leaving room for spontaneity.
“As a journalist, you need to find some kind of connection with the audience,” said Cammarata. “You have to care…Find your voice, whether it is fiction writing or nonfiction writing.”
Cammarata is the author of the Fianna Cycle trilogy, a Celtic medieval fiction work. She is also the president and founder of the Nick’s Fight to be Healed Foundation. While fiction writing is what she started doing, she has shifted her time from mostly writing fiction to half of her time writing nonfiction for the foundation.
The foundation, created in January of 2009 after Cammarata’s son Nick passed away from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, sets out to improve the quality of life for children with blood cancer. After staring the foundation, Cammarata was inspired to write a nonfiction book called What Makes Them Amazing, telling the stories of 9 children with leukemia.
Communications student Tom McDonald commented on Cammarata’s visit, saying her message was inspiring and motivational.
Cammarata strongly believes that writing can be used to heal and cope with everyday life.
“Fiction writing helps soften the harshness of reality; it’s a wonderful escape,” said Cammarata. “Writing for me has been life saving.”
