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Performing her
own ‘Balancing Act’
Fayetteville resident
finds time to write, publish first book
By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com
Dr. Eddra Marchand fell in
love with writing at a very young age.
As the youngest of four children growing up in New Orleans, Marchand would
spend lots of time composing poetry. Though the passion was always there,
the writing ebbed when she attended Xavier University for her undergraduate
work and stopped completely when she attended Emory University for medical
school and performed her residency for three years after that.
Eventually, the skeleton for a story started forming and, as she took
maternity leave after the birth of her daughter, Mallory, Marchand began
writing the book that would become her debut novel, “Balancing Acts,”
at every chance she had.
“It became an addiciton of sorts,” said Marchand. “It was
either write or sleep while she was napping and I often chose writing.”
It took Marchand four years to complete the book and get it published,
which meant that she had another maternity leave after her son, Zachary,
was born to use to work on writing and publishing the novel.
“Balancing Acts” is about a single woman’s journey to self-discovery.
Cassandra Nicholas is doing well professionally but not personally and
she is rapidly approaching the age of 35, when it is more likely that
she will die in a plane crash than get married. Through a series of events,
she evolves into a person at peace with being herself.
Marchand cites authors Bebe Moore Campbell and E. Lynn Harris among her
influences, as well as local author Ferrol Sams Sr., who gave her some
signed copies of his books and showed her that she could be both a doctor
and a successful author.
Though nothing in the book is directly related to the medical field, Marchand
feels that going through the grueling process of medical school and residency
gave her the discipline to complete the project. It may have also helped
her when it came to publishing the book. She sent letters out to a number
of big publishers and, while the feedback was positive, there was no movement.
That is when she and her husband, Norbert, decided to form their own publishing
company, MZV Publishing, and get the book released.
“The ultimate goal is to help all writers get their talents out there,”
said Marchand. “But we have to get this project off the ground first.”
The project is getting there. She recently held a reading and book signing
for “Balancing Acts” and the book is available at www.mzvpublishing.com
and will soon be available on Amazon.com. Family and friends are helping
market the book in Philadelphia and New Orleans, and Marchand will have
a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Fayetteville Nov. 22 at noon
before heading to New Orleans for the Bayou Classic and participating
in a signing there.
Marchand’s advice for aspiring authors is to stick with it and to
get as much feedback as possible. She not only had family and friends
read and critique her work while writing it, she also had a focus group
of nine people from different backgrounds give their opinions throughout
the process. Marchand also joined some Internet writing groups and got
lots of good feedback and advice.
Looking back on the process, Marchand feels that it was very organic and
that the novel evolved daily. She had the skeleton of the book very early
on and knew what some of the big scenes would be. Her biggest challenges
were from getting from point A to point B and then having to re-read almost
the entire book every time she sat down to write more. The good news is
that she already has the skeleton of the sequel down and plans to start
writing it after the new year.
“I will get into the grind again,” said Marchand. “I can
feel it approaching. However, if maternity leave is required for Book
II, there won’t be one.”
For more information on “Balancing Acts,” and her company, visit
www.mzvpublishing.com.
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